Priestly 


Celibacy 
Exposed, 


Price,   Fifteen  Cents. 


NEW  YORK 

THE    TRUTH    SEEKEE    COMPANY 

38  LAFAYETTE  PI.AOR 


LIBRARY 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY 


A   LECTURE 


BY 


THE  EEV.  GEO.  TOWNSHEND  FOX,  M.A., 

OF  DURHAM.  ENG. 


Revised  American  Edition. 


NEW  YORK 
THE    TRUTH    SEEKEK    COMPANY 

28  LAFAYETTE  PLACE 


PEEFACR 

A  CASE  of  affiliation  was  lately  brought  before  the 
magistrates  of  Stockton,  in  which  the  complainant  was 
the  daughter  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  a  pervert  to  Popery,  and  the  defendant  was 
the  Romish  priest  of  that  town.  This  case  having 
excited  a  great  deal  of  attention,  not  only  in  the  place 
where  it  was  tried,  but  in  the  North  of  England  gen- 
erally, I  thought  it  a  suitable  occasion  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  inhabitants  of  Stockton  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Church  of  Home  in  reference  to  pries-tly 
celibacy,  and  to  let  them  see  what  results  have 
always  proceeded  from  it 

During  the  last  few  years  this  country  has  been 
subjected  to  a  foreign  invasion;  Italian  Jesuits  and 
Maynooth  priests  have  flocked  to  our  shores,  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  on  missionary  operations  amongst 
the  population  of  England,  as  though  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  country,  except  the  handful  of  Romanists 
amongst  us,  were  the  natives  of  a  heathen  land.  Still 
further,  the  Church  of  Rome  has  arrogated  spiritual 
authority  over  all  baptised  persons  of  this  realm, 
whom  she  would  subject  to  the  penalties  of  her  eccle- 
siastical law,  had  she  the  power  to  enforce  it 

Since,  then.  Rome  has  seen  fit  to  visit  our  shores  in 
this  double  capacity,  as  a  missionary  to  win  and  as  a 


IV  PREFACE. 

ruler  to  command  our  subjection,  we  are  entitled  to 
sift  her  claims,  and  to  examine  her  doctrines ;  and 
since  the  surest  protection  against  the  inroads  of 
Popery  consists  in  knowing  what  it  really  is,  I  con- 
ceive it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  one  Who  is  attached  to 
the  principles  of  truth,  to  endeavor  to  inform  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  to  direct  their  attention  to 
the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Church,  of  Eome,  that 
they  may  know  what  she  is,  and  whereof  she  is  made, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  understand  what  they  must  look 
for,  if  ever  they  should  succumb  to  her  power. 

It  is  a  great  mistake,  under  which  many  persons 
labor,  whose  knowledge  of  the  genius  and  character  of 
Popery  is  superficial,  to  regard  it  as  simply  a  religious 
system.  Popery  has  contrived  so  to  mix  up  political 
principles  with  religion,  so  to  dovetail  the  spiritual  and 
secular  elements,  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  pre- 
dominates; and  it  throws  the  aegis  of  its  protection 
over  every  aggression  on  the  rights  of  mankind,  by 
putting  forth  arrogant  claims  of  divine  right  and  spir- 
itual authority. 

That  system  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than  polit- 
ical which  has  dethroned  kings,  governed  provinces, 
disturbed  the  peace  of  the  world,  involved  mankind  in 
bloodshed,  and  enslaved  not  merely  the  minds,  but  the 
bodies  of  men. 

It  is  this  peculiarity  of  Popery  which  brings  it  into 
such  frequent  conflict  with  the  secular  powers,  and 
renders  it  so  dangerous  to  the  political  well-being  of 
our  country.  As  a  system  of  religious  error,  it  is  suf- 
ficiently deleterious  in  its  influence  over  the  human 
miad,  and  requires  the  resistance  of  all  who  feel  the 


PREFACE.  V 

value  of  religious  truth  ;  but  as  a  political  system,  it  is 
fraught  with  such  dangers  to  the  welfare  of  the  State, 
as  to  demand  the  most  serious  attention  and  strenuous 
opposition  of  politicians. 

Nothing  can  be  more  dangerous  to  the  political 
safety  of  a  country  than  to  introduce  a  spiritual  power 
which  wields  its  sceptre  over  the  conscience  and  feel- 
ings of  mankind,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  off  their 
affection  from  the  political  institutions  under  which 
they  dwell. 

Yet  such  is  the  kind  of  influence  which  the  Pope  of 
Rome  would  exercise  over  the  subjects  of  Great 
Britain.  To  give  an  individual  instance  of  this,  he 
has  thrown  the  halo  of  religion  around  the  secular 
question  of  titles  to  Romish  priests  in  this  country, 
and  though  it  has  been  declared  by  the  law  of  the 
land  to  be  an  infringement  on  the  rights  of  our 
Queen,  to  give  such  titles  to  Romish  bishops,  yet  such 
is  the  influence  which  the  emissaries  of  the  Pope  have 
exercised,  that  everywhere  you  find  his  dictum  pre- 
ferred amongst  Roman  Catholics  to  the  law  of  the 
land.  It  holds  good  in  every  department  of  life,  civil 
as  well  as  religious,  that  no  man  can  serve  two  masters  : 
and  since  the  Pope  of  Rome  so  involves  political 
questions  with  religion  as  frequently  to  come  into 
collision  with  the  law  of  England,  they  who  have  sur- 
rendered their  allegiance  to  him  cannot  be  true  to 
their  attachment  to  the  Queen,  or  the  laws  of  Great 
Britain. 

Of  this  the  late  trial,  to  which  I  have  adverted, 
afforded  a  striking  instance ;  for  on  that  occasion, 
before  a  bench  of  magistrates,  the  lawyei  for  the 


vi  PREFACE. 

defendant  addressed  a  Romish  priest  by  the  title  of 
the  Bishop  of  Hexham,  though  he  acknowledged  that 
it  was  not  lawful  to  do  so.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
that  the  Pope's  law  was  held  superior  to  the  Queen's 
law  in  the  presence  of  a  magisterial  body  in  Stockton. 

Politicians,  who  have  the  welfare  of  their  country 
at  heart,  would  do  well  to  ponder  this  peculiarity  of 
Popery,  and  realize  how  great  is  the  danger  of  divid- 
ing the  allegiance  of  a  people,  and  drawing  away  their 
affections  to  a  foreign  power  whose  interests  are 
diametrically  opposed  to  our  own. 

No  man  can  serve  two  masters  ;  and  when  the  Pope 
commands  his  followei's  to  do  that  which  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  the  law  of  the  land  forbid,  we  know  by 
experience  which  master  the  devoted  servant  of  Rome 
will  obey. 

There  is  something  extremely  humiliating  to  our 
national  feeling,  that  any  Englishman  should  more 
regard  the  dictation  of  a  foreigner,  pay  more  respect 
to  the  command  of  a  wretched  Italian  priest,  than  to 
the  will  of  our  own  Queen,  or  the  majesty  of  English 
law.  But  so  it  is ;  and  where  Popery  gains  the 
ascendency  over  an  Englishman's  heart,  it  must,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  loosen  his  attachment  to  the  institu- 
tions of  his  native  land,  and  make  him  a  bad  subject, 
for  no  man  can  serve  two  masters. 

Another  important  consideration,  which  may  well 
induce  those  to  look  about  them  who  have  to  do  with 
courts  of  justice,  is  the  doctrine  which  the  Church  of 
Rome  holds  on  the  subject  of  oaths.  A  Romish  priest 
was  called  upon  at  the  late  trial  to  give  evidence  upon 
a  matter  in  which  the  credit  of  his  order  and  the  inter- 


PREFACE.  yii 

est  of  his  Church  were  at  stake.  Now — after  having 
carefully  perused  the  various  sanctions  which  the 
Church  of  Eome  has  given  to  equivocate  and  to  swear 
falsely,  and  after  considering  the  plenary  absolution 
she  offers  to  her  votaries  committing  such  offenses — 
I  must  say  that  I  cannot  attach  the  slightest  weight  to 
the  testimony  of  a  Romish  priest  given  upon  oath  in  a 
court  of  justice  ;  and  I  leave  it  to  any  one  to  say  what 
is  its  value,  when  the  following  doctrines  are  unblush- 
ingly  sanctioned  by  the  Church  of  Rome : 

"  To  swear  with  equivocation  when  there  is  a  just 
cause  and  equivocation  itself  is  lawful,  is  not  evil ; 
because  where  there  is  a  just  cause  for.  concealing  the 
truth,  and  it  is  concealed  without  a  lie,  no  detriment 
is  done  to  an  oath." 

The  following  is  the  definition  of  u  a  just  cause  " : 
"  A  just  cause  is  any  honest  end  in  order  to  preserve 
good  things  far  the  spirit  or  useful  things  for  the 
body." 

"  It  is  lawful  to  use  equivocation  and  to  confirm  it 
with  an  oath." 

"  A  confessor  can  affirm,  even  with  an  oath,  that  he 
does  not  know  a  sin  heard  in  confession,  by  under- 
standing as  a  man,  not  as  a  minister  of  Christ" 

"  The  accused,  or  a  witness  not  properly  interro- 
gated, can  swear  that  he  does  not  know  a  crime,  which 
in  reality  he  does  know,  by  understanding  that  he  does 
not  know  the  crime  concerning  which  legitimately  he 
can  be  inquired  of ;  or  that  he  does  not  know  it  so  as 
to  give  evidence  concerning  it" 

"  A  person  who  deceives  by  swearing  with  equivo- 
cation may  be  absolved,  because  in  such  an  oath, 


viU  PREFACE. 

which  cannot  be  called  a  perjury,  he  has  not  sinned 
against  commutative  justice,  but  against  legal  justice 
and  due  obedience  to  a  judge  whose  command  of 
unfolding  the  truth  is  transient,  and  only  lasts  while 
the  judge  interrogates," 

"  The  accused,  if  in  danger  of  death,  exile,  loss  of 
property,  and  such  like,  can  deny  the  crime  even  with 
an  oath,  by  understanding  that  he  did  not  commit  it 
so  that  he  is  bound  to  confess  it" 

The  Church  of  Rome  having  seen  fit  thus  to  break 
down  the  barriers  of  morality  and  truth,  has  no  reason 
to  complain  if  we  should  refuse  to  believe  one  word 
uttered  by  her  bishops  and  priests  under  oath  in  a 
witness  box. 

The  above  quotations  are  from  the  writings  of  the 
approved,  canonized,  and  invocated  St  Liguori,  which 
were  discussed  some  twenty  times  by  the  Sacred 
College ;  after  which  matured  digestion  they  received 
the  formal  sanction  of  the  Pope,  and  were  put  forth 
to  the  world  with  this  high  encomium,  that  not  one 
word  worthy  of  censure  had  been  found  in  them. 

Such  are  the  morals  for  which  we  pay  £30,000  per 
annum  1 


PRIESTLY 


MR  CHAIRMAN  AND  FRIENDS:  The  attention  of 
the  public  has  lately  been  aroused  by  a  case  brought 
before  the  local  magistrates,  which  involved  the  moral 
character  of  a  Homish  priest  in  this  place  ;  so  great  is 
the  notoriety  it  has  gained,  as  to  make  it  quite  unnec- 
essary for  me  to  refer  to  it  more  particularly. 

I  have  invited  you  to  meet  me  this  evening,  not  to 
discuss  the  merits  of  that  cr\so,  with  which  I  desire  t<5 
have  nothing  to  do  —  but  to  give  you  some  informa- 
tion on  the  general  subject  to  which  it  refers.  Such  is 
the  apathy  that  it  is  oaly  on  special  occasions,  like  the 
Papal  aggression,  or  of  local  interest,  like  that  to 
which  I  have  referred,  that  the  attention  of  the  public 
can  be  aroused  to  the  subject  of  Popery  ;  and  such  is 
the  ignorance  wherein  people  for  the  most  part  are 
content  to  remain,  respecting  the  dangerous  and  cor- 
rupt principles  of  Popery,  that  I  conceive  it  a  duty 
which  I  owe  to  society,  to  seize  any  opportunity  that 
presents  itself  of  conveying  information  to  the  people. 
Such  I  regard  the  present,  and  it  is  therefore  that  I 
have  invited  you  to  meet  me  this  evening,  that  I  may 
lay  before  you  the  facts  connected  with  one  of  the 
most  revolting  pages  in  the  history  of  Popery. 

The  subject  which  circumstances,  not  choice,  have 
forced  upon  me,  is  one  of  great  delicacy,  and  to  handle 


10  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

it  becomingly  before  a  mixed  audience,  is  a  task  of  no 
small  difficulty,  for  the  details  are  so  revolting,  and 
many  of  them  so  unfit  for  the  public  ear,  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  produce  the  facts  we  possess,  which  form  the 
strength  of  every  cause.  We  have  to  do  with  a  sink 
of  iniquity,  the  very  stirring  of  which  excites  pestilent 
iniasma  and  poisonous  fumes ;  but  to  fathom  its 
depths,  or  lay  bare  its  most  secret  recesses,  is  a  task  I 
dare  not  undertake:  to  attempt  it  would  be  safe 
neither  for  you  nor  me.  But  on  the  other  hand,  it 
will  not  do  in  times  like  these,  from  a  feeling  of  false 
or  overstrained  delicacy,  to  abstain  from  making  known 
the  doctrines  and  practice  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  If 
that  corrupt  church  were  content  to  let  us  alone  in 
England,  we  might  let  her  alone  also ;  but  since  she 
has  proclaimed  aggression  as  the  order  of  the  day,  and 
claims  to  exercise  spiritual  dominion  over  th^se  realms, 
we  must  not,  from  a  feeling  of  shame,  shrink  from  lay- 
ing bare  the  secret  corruptions  of  her  teaching  and 
practice.  It  is  necessary  that  the  people  of  this  realm 
should  be  informed  what  she  is,  that  the  fair  garb  and 
gorgeous  apparel,  wherein  she  appears  clad  before  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  should  be  stripped  off,  and  her 
secret  corruptions  be  exposed.  We  are  constrained  to 
deal  by  her  as  Una,  Spenser's  graceful  emblem  of 
female  virtue,  dealt  by  Duenna,  the  counterpart  of 
Rome: 

"  So  as  she  bade  that  witch  they  disarrayed, 
And  robbed  of  royal  robes  and  purple  pall, 
And  ornaments  that  richly  were  displayed, 
Ne  spared  they  to  strip  her  naked  all. 
Then  when  they  had  despoiled  her  tire  and  call, 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  11 

Such  as  she  was,  their  eyes  might  her  behold, 

That  her  mis-shaped  parts  did  them  appal, 

A  loathly,  wrinkled  hag,  ill-favored,  old, 

Whose  secret  filth  good  manners  biddeth  not  be  told." 

1  1.  The  subject,  then,  to  which  I  invite  your 
attention  this  evening,  is  the  Romish  doctrine  of  the 
Celibacy  of  the  Clergy,  and  the  immoral  results  which 
have  proceeded  from  it 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  broached  a  doctrine  not  to 
be  found  in  scripture.  The  Bible  tells  us,  it  k  not 
good  for  man  to  be  alone — it  further  teaches  us  that 
marriage  is  honorable  in  all,  and  lastly,  assures  us  that 
it  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn. 

But  Rome,  in  diametrical  opposition  to  the  Bible. 
declares  that  it  is  far  the  best  for  man  to  be  alone,  that 
marriage  is  not  honorable  in  all,  and  that  it  is  better  a 
man  should  burn  than  marry. 

Not  content  to  put  this  out  as  a  private  opinion  of 
her  own,  she  must  endeavor  to  force  it  down  the 
throats  of  all  the  world,  with  the  aid  of  her  anathema- 
tizing piston  or  forcing  pump,  to  which  the  Doctors  of 
Trent  had  so  frequent  recourse,  cursing  all  who  diff- 
ered from  her,  for  want  of  better  argument 

Thus  the  Council  of  Trent  has  decreed : 

"  "Whoever  shall  affirm  that  persons  in  holy  orders 
may  contract  marriage,  and  that  the  contract  is  valid, 
notwithstanding  any  ecclesiastical  law  or  vow ;  and 
that  all  persons  may  marry,  who  feel  that,  though 
they  should  make  a  vow  of  chastity,  they  have  not  the 
gift  thereof  :  let  him  be  accursed." 

So  much  for  the  doctrine  of  Rome ;  the  arguments 


12  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

by  which  it  is  defended  will  claim  our  attention  by 
and  by. 

2.  But,  first,  I  must  give  you  a  brief  history  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  doctrine  of  celibacy  in  the 
Church  of  Eome,  and  trace  its  true  parentage  and 
origin. 

One  of  the  very  first  corruptions  which  insinuated 
itself  into  the  Church  was  an  extravagant  admira- 
tion of  celibacy,  which  was  extolled  in  unmeasured 
terms  as  the  angelic  or  celestial  virtue,  But  the  doc- 
trine itself  is  of  heathen  origin,  and  it  was  from  the 
superstitions  of  the  "  Gentiles "  that  the  Christian 
Church  first  embraced  the  false  and  foolrsh  conceit 
that  there  was  a  peculiar  and  angelic  virtue  in  celi- 
bacy. From  the  Gentiles  it  spread  amongst  the 
Essenes,  a  Jewish  sect,  whom  Josephus  tells  us  were 
advocates  of  celibacy — from  them  it  was  embraced  by 
the  early  "  heretics,"  the  Montanists,  Marcionites,  Man- 
ichees,  and  others — and  just  in  proportion  as  the  purity 
of  the  Church  decaj^ed,  it  imbibed  the  unscriptural 
fashion  of  the  day,  an  ardent,  senseless  admiration  for 
celibacy.  Such  is  the  parentage  of  the  doctrine — first, 
the  "heathen,"  then  the  Essenes,  then  the  "heretics," 
and  lastly,  the  decaying  Church  at  large. 

Clerical  celibacy,  however,  was  not  the  original  form 
which  this  madness  assumed — it  first  ran  its  course 
amongst  the  people.  Anthony,  in  the  fourth  century, 
was  the  first  who  collected  together  ascetics  of  either 
sex,  who,  renouncing  intercourse  with  the  world,  be- 
took themselves  to  the  deserts  of  Egypt ;  and  so  rap- 
idly did  this  new  species  of  madness  spread,  that  ere 
long  the  East  swarmed  with  persons,  who,  abandoning 


PBIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  18 

the  occupations  and  comforts  of  life,  and  all  intercourse 
with  society,  spent  their  lives  in  solitude  and  celibacy, 
vainly  dreaming  that  thereby  they  were  doing  God 
service. 

But  at  this  period,  be  it  remembered,  and  for  many 
centuiies  after,  the  law  of  clerical  celibacy  did  not 
exist  At  various  times  efforts  were  made  to  bring 
abou  this  obnoxious  rule  of  life,  but  without  success : 
the  subject  was  mooted  at  the  celebrated  Council  of 
Nice,  in  the  year  325 ;  we  read  in  the  history  of  that 
council  that  an  effort  was  made  to  impose  celibacy  on 
the  clergy  by  an  express  law,  but  that  it  failed,  for  the 
aged  Paphnutius,  bishop  in  the  Upper  Thebaid,  him- 
self the  inmate  of  a  monastery  from  boyhood,  opposed 
the  motion,  and  it  was  lost. 

Another  epoch  in  the  history  of  clerical  celibacy,  is 
the  reign  of  the  celebrated  pontiff,  Gregory  the  Great, 
in  the  sixth  century ;  for  though  he  was  bent  on  the 
same  object,  and  did,  for  a  time,  deprive  his  clergy  of 
their  wives,  and  decree  in  favor  of  celibacy,  yet  I 
shall  show  you  by  and  by  that  the  consequences  of 
that  decree  were  so  horrible  as  to  compel  this  Pope, 
dismayed  by  the  direful  results,  to  repeal  the  law. 

Various  attempts  were  made  at  sundry  times,  by 
Popes  and  councils,  to  dishonor  matrimony,  and  to 
deprive  priests  of  their  wives,  with  which  tedious  and 
insipid  details  I  shall  not  weary  you ;  but  it  was  not 
till  the  reign  of  that  arch  tyrant,  Gregory  VII.,  in  the 
eleventh  century,  that  these  iron  shackles  were  riveted 
upon  the  clergy — and  he,  notwithstanding  his  power, 
found  it  an  almost  impracticable  task  to  deprive  the 
priests  of  their  wives. 


14  PBIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

The  German  clergy  were  the  most  sturdy  oppo 
nents  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  for  when  Gregory,  in 
the  year  1074,  enacted  that  no  priests  should  hence- 
forth marry,  and  that  such  as  now  had  wives  should 
relinquish  either  them  or  their  sacred  office ;  immedi- 
ately, as  we  read  in  history,  horrible  tumults  were 
excited  by  the  priests,  many  of  whom  were  willing 
rather  to  relinquish  the  priesthood  than  to  part  with 
their  wives ;  and  many  of  them  seceded  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  branding  the  Pontiff  and  his  adher- 
ents with  the  odious  name  of  Paterini;  i.  e.,  Mani- 
chaeana 

The  German  clergy  exclaimed  they  would  rather 
lose  their  priesthood  than  part  with  their  wives ; 
"  Let  him  who  despises  men,"  said  they,  "  see  whence 
he  can  procure  angels  for  the  churches."  The  clergy 
of  Passau,  when  the  Papal  prohibition  was  published, 
said  to  their  Bishop,  "  They  neither  could  nor  would 
abandon  the  custom  which  it  was  clear  they  had  fol- 
lowed from  ancient  times."  Such  is  the  record  of 
history. 

"We  find  that  in  the  Jewish  Church  all  the  patri- 
archs, and  prophets,  and  priests,  had  the  liberty  to 
marry.  Adam,  Enoch,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
Joseph,  Aaron,  Samuel,  Isaiah,  and  others,  were  all 
married.  So  distasteful  to  Eomish  ears  was  this  fact, 
put  forth  in  the  works  of  Chrysostom,  that  in  his 
twenty-first  homily  on  Genesis,  they  have  taken  the 
liberty  to  expunge  the  words,  "  all  the  prophets  had 
wives ;"  and  as  the  Belgian  and  Spanish  Index  have 
so  decreed  it,  of  course  the  expurgation  of  this  hereti- 
cal comment  must  be  correct  I 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  15 

Notwithstanding  this  caveat,  however,  you.  will 
allow  me  to  remind  you  that  Zacharias,  the  father  of 
John  the  Baptist,  was  a  married  priest  And  now, 
coming  to  the  times  of  Christianity,  we  find  the  Apos- 
tles themselves  were  married  men ;  those  leaders, 
those  founders  of  the  Christian  Church,  did  not  despise 
the  marriage  bond,  did  not  think  themselves  too 
holy  to  lead  about  a  wife.  But,  strangest  of  all, 
mirabile  dictuf  Peter,  that  prince  of  the  Apostles, 
had  a  wife — 0  Peter !  what  wast  thou  about  so  to  dis- 
grace thy  ministry?  Didst  thou  know  no  better  than 
this?  Surely  thou  must  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
princely  perfection  of  the  baccalaureate  priesthood ! 
Surely  thou  hadst  never  dreamt  of  ITildebrand's  decree, 
or  else  thou  hadst  put  away  thy  wife  when  promoted 
to  the  office  of  apostle ! 

No  wonder,  then,  if  Apostles  had  wives,  that  the 
inferior  clergy  should  have  them,  too,  and  that  one  of 
the  requirements  which  Timothy  was  to  see  to 
amongst  the  bishops  or  presbyters  under  his  charge, 
was  that  they  be  "the  husband  of  one  wife." 

The  records  of  succeeding  times  I  have  already 
given,  whereby  you  have  seen  that,  notwithstanding 
the  mad  fury  and  wild  fanaticism  of  the  East  in  favor 
of  celibacy  during  the  fourth  century,  no  law  was  put 
in  permanent  force  to  prevent  the  clergy  from  having 
wives  till  that  ambitious,  far-sighted  prelate,  Gregory 
the  Seventh,  did,  at  all  hazards,  put  a  yoke  upon  the 
neck  of  the  priesthood,  which  neither  their  fathers  nor 
they  were  able  to  bear. 

Koine,  notwithstanding  her  boasts  of  antiquity, 
cannot  prove  an  earlier  date  than  1074,  when  the 


16  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

Romish  Church  was  sunk  in  deepest  corruption,  and 
the  world  in  blackest  darkness,  for  the  institution  of 
her  ecclesiastical  edict,  which  sets  at  defiance  the  law 
of  nature. 

3.  We  will  now  consider  her  defense  of  this  mons- 
trous act  of  tyranny  towards  the  priests  that  acknowl- 
edge her  rule. 

It  is  a  debated  point  amongst  Romish  casuists, 
whether  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  is  enjoined  by 
Scripture ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  access  they  have 
at  all  times  to  an  infallible  interpreter,  there  is  a  vast 
deal  of  debatable  ground  in  the  Romish  Church  ;  and 
since  they  have  not  settled  the  question  for  them- 
selves, it  is  surely  no  great  liberty  if  we  undertake  to 
do  so  for  them,  or  at  least  accept  the  decision  of  such 
doctors  as  please  us  best. 

Bellarmine,  that  celebrated  doctor,  confesses  that 
"  single  life  is  not  imposed  upon  ministers  by  the  law 
of  God,  for  there  is  no  precept,  either  in  the  Old  01 
New  Testament,  that  forbiddeth  ministers  to  marry, 
but  that  it  is  a  positive  law  of  the  Church,  kept  and 
observed  ever  since  the  Apostles'  times,  and  therefore 
it  is  not  now  lawful  for  ministers  to  marry "  (cap. 
xviii.  lib.  1,  de  Clericis) ;  and  Bailly  writes  thus: 
"  You  inquire  whether  clergymen  in  sacred  orders  are 
bound  to  observe  perpetual  continency  by  the  divine 
or  apostolical  law?  It  is  answered  with  many  theo- 
logians against  certain  others,  that  the  celibacy 
annexed  to  sacred  orders  was  neither  instituted  noi 
commanded  by  Christ,  nor  by  the  Apostles  at  hi* 
command."  Here,  certainly,  is  a  most  candid  confes 
sion  from  the  pen  of  a  Romish  doctor — a  plais 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  17 

acknowledgement  that  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  is  an 
unscriptural  doctrine.  He  proceeds:  "Nothing  is 
found  in  scripture  or  tradition  by  which  it  can  be 
proved  that  perpetual  continency  was  imposed  on 
ministers  by  Christ,  or  by  the  Apostles  at  his  command. 
On  the  other  hand  the  Church  permitted  for  many 
ages  to  the  Greek  priests  the  society  of  wives  whom 
they  had  taken  before  ordination,  and  still  permits ; 
but  the  Church  is  unable  to  dispense  with  a  law 
imposed  by  Christ,  or  by  the  Apostles  at  the  command 
of  Christ ;  it  may  therefore  be  said  that  the  law  of 
perpetual  continency  imposed  upon  sacred  ministers 
was  introduced  by  the  hierarchy,  or  by  the  Apostles,  as 
governors  and  leaders  of  the  churches  who  proposed 
it,  not  as  a  divine  and  immutable,  but  as  an  ecclesi- 
astical law,  as  the  best  mode  of  governing  the  Church. 
For  these  reasons  it  is  manifest  that  the  law  of  celibacy 
is  at  the  same  time  ecclesiastical  and  apostolical." 

Was  there  ever  such  a  specimen  of  Jesnitical  logic 
as  this?  How  does  this  skillful  disputant  make  out 
his  case?  Why,  much  as  a  fox-hunter  rides  over  the 
country,  by  jumping  all  the  ditches.  He  has  made  a 
clear  somerset  over  all  the  historical  hiatus,  and  has 
got  to  the  end  of  his  argument  by  clearing  at  one  leap 
that  awkward  dilemma  presented  by  an  entire  absence 
of  proof  that  ever  the  Apostles,  "as  governors  and 
leaders  of  the  church,  proposed  this  law  "  in  any  sense 
whatever,  either  divine  or  ecclesiastical.  So  far  from 
it,  they  themselves  married,  sanctioned  the  marriage 
of  others,  and  Paul,  though  a  celibate  himself,  vindi- 
cated his  right  and  title  to  a  wife  with  as  strenuous  a 
zeal  as  if  he  had  been  a  Protestant  "  Have  we  not 


18  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED. 

power,"  he  exclaims,  "to  lead  about  a  sieter,  a  wife, 
as  well  as  other  Apostles,  and  as  the  brethren  of  the 
Lord  and  Cephas  ?"  There  are  some  of  the  doctors  of 
Rome  who  are  very  angry  with  us  for  translating  this 
word  a  wife,  and  charge  us  with  willful  perversion  of 
Scripture.  The  case  stands  thus :  theoriginal<7imou£a 
signifies  a  woman,  but  is  constantly,  in  classical  use, 
employed  to  designate  a  wife,  and  yqu  must  be  guided 
by  the  context  as  to  the  natural  meaning.  Now  I 
would  ask  you  which  is  the  most  likely,  that  Paul 
should  claim  his  right  and  privilege  to  lead  about  a 
woman  who  was  his  wife  or  a  woman  who  was  not  ? 
I  am  not  much  surprised,  however,  that  a  Romish 
priest  should  be  offended  at  our  translation,  and  that 
he  should  prefer  the  interpretation  "an  unmarried 
woman;"  it  would,  indeed,  be  a  great  thing  to  get 
Scripture  and  the  practice  of  Paul  to  justify  taking  a 
young  unmarried  female  into  a  bachelor  establishment 
and  to  prove  that  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
himself  would  have  traveled  with  her  by  rail  from 
Stockton  to  Leeds !  To  make  out  this  would,  indeed, 
be  worth  a  trifle. 

Such  is  the  total  absence  of  proof,  either  Scriptural, 
traditional,  or  historical,  that  ever  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  was  a  law  of  the  Church  till  the  year  107-i. 

Notwithstanding  all  objections,  however,  such  is  the 
position  which  the  Church  of  Rome  has  seen  fit  to 
take.  She  has,  by  a  law  like  that  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  which  changeth  not,  cut  off  the  whole  of  her 
priesthood  from  the  amenities  of  married  life,  the 
solace  of  domestic  ties,  and  condemned  them  to  a 
hopeless,  unending  celibacy. 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  19 

n.  We  must  now  proceed  another  step  forward  in 
the  pursuit  of  her  iniquitous  progress. 

It  might  naturally  be  supposed,  since  Eome  has 
conceived  such  high  notions  of  the  angelic  purity  and 
perfection  of  celibacy,  and  considers  matrimony  a 
defilement  for  those  who  profess  a  religious  life,  and 
incompatible  with  the  higher  mysteries  of  her  faith, 
that  she  would  have  done  everything  in  her  power  to 
keep  those  pure  and  ignorant  of  unholy  things  whom 
she  had  thus  set  apart,  and  to  whom  she  denied  that 
lawful  outlet  for  the  desires  of  nature. 

This,  surely,  would  have  been  the  most  suitable 
course,  and  considering  the  great  power  her  super- 
stition exercises  over  the  minds  of  men,  and  the  right 
she  both  claims  and  enforces  in  Popish  countries  over 
the  literature  and  publications  of  the  world — surely 
she  could  not  have  more  benignly  and  becomingly 
exercised  those  powers,  than  by  forbidding  the  perusal 
of  all  unsuitable  books  to  her  bachelor  priests,  treating 
them  as  wise  parents  do  their  children,  by  putting  out 
of  their  reach  whatever  might  pollute  their  pure 
minds. 

But  no !  she  has  added  refinement  to  her  cruelty ; 
and  after  having  condemned  them  to  hopeless  celi- 
bacy, she  has  dared  to  stimulate  their  sensual  passiops 
by  compelling  them  to  study  the  most  obscene  and 
abominable  publications,  calculated  to  inflame  their 
desires  and  pollute  their  minds. 

With  her  usual  sophistry,  the  Church  of  Rome  has 
laid  down  the  following  proposition;  that  just  as  a 
doctor  ought  to  be  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the 
diseases  incident  to  the  human  frame,  to  qualify  him 


20  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

as  a  physician  of  the  body,  so  ought  the  priest  to  be 
deeply  versed  in  all  the  diseases  of  the  soul,  that  is, 
in  all  kinds  of  sin  and  cases  of  conscience,  to  qualify 
him  as  a  physician  of  souls.  And,  proceeding  to 
carry  out  this  principle,  she  has  caused  a  number  of 
text-books  to  be  provided  for  her  students  m  theology, 
treating  of,  amongst  other  things,  all  the  imaginable 
sins  which  can  possibly  be  committed  between  the 
sexes,  together  with  innumerable  cases  of  conscience 
connected  with  these  subjects.  These  bachelor  doc- 
tors in  their  treatises  have  dared  to  invade  the  sacred 
precincts  of  the  marriage-bed,  and  to  lay  bare  to  the 
prurient  curiosity  of  the  young  students  in  theology, 
secrets,  which,  in  prospect  of  their  vow  of  celibacy, 
should  have  been  concealed  from  them  for  ever. 

Whilst  prosecuting  this  disgusting  branch  of  our 
subject,  I  was  led  to  borrow  from  a  friend  a  ponderous 
folio,  entitled  "Sanchez  De  Matrimonio," — a  monstrous 
volume  of  twelve  hundred  pages  in  Latin,  which  is  a 
great  authority  amongst  the  doctors  of  Rome ;  and,  to 
my  horror,  I  found  it  crammed  with  such  indecent 
and  abominable  trash,  so  filthy,  impure,  and  disgusting, 
that  I  flung  it  from  me  with  indignation  into  a  corner, 
as  unfit  to  read,  and  whose  very  touch  was  pollution. 

Then  there  is  Dens'  Theology — it  is  equally  bad, 
and  forms  a  text-book  in  the  College  of  Maynooth — 
so  that,  just  as  our  young  men  have  got  up  Paley  and 
Butler  at  Cambridge,  so  those  students  of  Maynooth 
must  be  drilled  in  the  abominable  pages  of  Dens. 

Such  are  the  fruits  we  reap  from  the  infatuated 
course  our  Government  has  oursued  in  the  endowment 
of  Maynooth. 


PRIASTLT   CELIBACY   EXPOSED.  21 

By  our  liberal  assistance,  Eome  is  enabled  to  breed 
a  supply  of  priests,  far  more  numerous  than  her  dimin- 
ishing Irish  flock  requires ;  and  after  having  debauched 
their  minds  with  her  impure  casuistry,  she  sends  them 
over  by  troops  to  England  to  inveigle  our  foolish  and 
ignorant  people,  who  know  nothing  of  their  tricks,  and 
are  easily  corrupted  by  their  guile. 

With  what  a  sneer  of  intense  contempt  must  the 
College  of  Cardinals  contemplate  our  mad  career, 
whilst  they  themselves  deny  the  subjects  of  Britain  so 
much  as  burial  rites,  or  liberty  of  worship  ! 

An  edition  of  three  thousand  copies  of  this  abomin- 
able work  was  published  as  recently  as  1832,  with  the 
approbation  of  Dr.  Murray,  who  had  laid  claim  to  the 
title  of  His  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin ;  but 
when  certain  portions  of  its  obscene  contents  were 
translated  into  English,  and  the  attention  of  the  public 
drawn  to  them,  he  found  it  convenient  to  deny  having 
ever  given  any  such  approbation.  The  publisher, 
however,  very  independently  contradicted  the  state- 
ment of  Dr.  Murray,  which  caused  great  excitement  in 
Dublin,  during  which  he  took  his  departure  for  Rome, 
whether  to  seek  absolution  for  the  falsehood  he  had 
told,  or  not,  I  cannot  say — but,  having  been  reassured 
by  His  Holiness  the  Pope,  on  his  return  he  strongly 
recommended  this  obscene  book  to  his  clergy,  and 
said  "  he  had  no  hesitation  in  commending  it  as  a  use 
ful  summary  to  their  attentive  perusal." 

Then  there  is  another  author  of  great  celebrity,  who 
has  defiled  reams  of  paper  with  the  most  impure,  cor- 
rupt, and  disgusting  details  that  ever  entered  into  the 
wild  conceit  of  a  filthy  old  bachelor  to  imagina 


22  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED. 

I  refer  to  Liguori,  and  here  I  must  say  a  word  or 
two  about  the  authority  of  his  writings,  for  one  of  the 
Jesuitical  means  of  defense  employed  by  Rome  against 
her  adversaries,  is  her  being  always  ready  to  cast 
overboard  her  friends  when  it  is  convenient  so  to  do, 
thus  resembling  the  prudent  mariner  in  a  storm,  who 
casts  overboard  his  goods  to  save  the  ship ;  but  the 
skill  of  the  Romish  pilot  far  exceeds  that  of  the 
sailor,  for  she  always  contrives  to  take  her  goods  on 
board  again,  as  soon  as  the  storm  is  over — for  whilst 
she  deals  thus  unceremoniously  with  her  best  friends, 
in  controversy  she  pays  them  the  highest  honors,  and 
makes  the  best  possible  use  of  them,  when  dealing 
with  her  own  people. 

Thus,  if  you  produce  that  learned  Doctor  Sanchez, 
a  writer  of  great  weight  in  the  Church  of  Eome, 
whose  foul  pages  are  quoted  as  authority  by  Bailly, 
Delahogue,  Dens,  and  a  host  of  others,  they  at  once 
cast  him  overboard,  and  say  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
not  responsible  for  the  writings  of  a  private  individ- 
ual. Again,  if  you  produce  Peter  Dens,  and  prove 
that  the  students  of  Maynooth,  and  other  Romish  col- 
leges are  drilled  in  the  contents  of  his  impure  pages, 
still  they  cast  him  overboard,  notwithstanding  Dr. 
Murray's  imprimatur,  and  refuse  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  him — he  was  only  a  private  individual.  But, 
happily,  they  are  not  able  to  treat  Liguori  in  so  cava- 
lier a  manner ;  by  good  fortune  they  have  nailed  his 
colors  to  the  mast  with  their  own  hands — for  so  lately 
as  the  year  1839,  Liguori  was  canonized  as  a  saint ; 
and  after  all  his  writings  had  been  more  than  twenty 
times  discussed  by  the  Sacred  Congregation,  they 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED.  23 

received  the  highest  imprimatur  which  Rome  herself 
could  append,  it  being  decreed  by  the  said  Congrega- 
tion, that  not  one  word  in  them  had  been  found 
worthy  of  censure,  which  declaration  received  the 
endorsement  of  Pope  Pius  VII. 
And  now,  indeed: 

"  I  could  a  tale  unfold, 

Whose  lightest  word  would  harrow  up  your  souls ; 
But  this  eternal  blazon  must  not  be 
To  ears  of  flesh  and  blood." 

I  warned  you  at  the  outset,  that  we  had  to  do  with  a 
sink  of  iniquity  the  very  stirring  of  which  would 
excite  pestilent  miasma,  but  that  the  fathoming  of  its 
foul  depths  I  could  not  venture.  Already  have  I 
Btirred  it  as  much  as  I  dare ;  but  to  give  you  quota- 
tions from  Sanchez,  Bailly,  Delahogue,  or  filthy  Dens, 
I  cannot  do  it : 

"  Their  secret  filth  good  manners  biddeth  not  be  told." 

TTT.  Advance  we  then  a  step  further,  in  what  Hogarth 
would  have  termed  the  Rake's  Progress,  or  the  His- 
tory of  Priestly  Celibacy. 

After  Rome  has  deprived  the  young  priest  of  his 
natural  rights,  and  condemned  him  to  a  life  of  perpet- 
ual celibacy,  no  master  what  his  temperament  may  be, 
and  after  she  has  debauched  his  mind  with  filthy  Dens 
and  his  compeers,  what  is  the  next  step  she  takes  for 
the  preservation  of  his  virtue  ?  She  next  decrees  that 
every  woman  in  the  parish,  young  or  old,  beautiful  or 
ugly,  modest  or  immodest,  her  ladyship  in  lace,  and 
the  scullion  girl  that  lights  the  kitchen  fire,  shall  come 
to  hi™,  for  confession,  and  shall  be  closeted  with  him 


24  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

in  private  as  long  as  he  likes.  And  during  that 
secret  conference,  what  are  to  be  the  topics  of  conver- 
sation ?  Is  it  the  deep  mysteries  of  religion  which 
engage  their  minds  ? 

"  Reason  they  high 
Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fate  ?" 

Assuredly  not !  for  now  it  is  that  Sanchez,  Delahogue, 
Bailly,  and  filthy  Dens,  come  into  play  with  all  their 
impure  casuistry.  Now  it  is  that  this  bachelor  priest 
is  to  catechize  the  newly-married  wife,  and  to  bring 
the  burning  tints  of  shame  into  her  pure  cheek — now 
it  is  that  he  must  ferret  into  all  the  secrets  of  the 
marriage-chamber,  assisted  by  "  Sanchez  De  Matri- 
monio,"  and  ask  questions  which  no  modest  matron 
can  endure  to  hear. 

Next  comes  the  tender  maid,  pure  as  the  morning 
dew  that  sparkles  in  the  grassy  glade,  her  simple  mind 
like  the  drifted  snow,  untainted  with  defiling  stains,  in 
blissful  ignorance  of  sin.  If  there  be  on  earth  a 
loathsome  object  of  contemplation  that  can  sicken  the 
leart  of  man,  it  is  that  of  a  sensual,  bloated  priest, 
\vhose  mind  has  long  been  debauched  by  the  pages  of 
Home's  obscenest  casuistry,  sitting  in  sly  and  watchful 
contact  beside  a  delicate  maiden,  into  whose  simple 
mind  he  distils  the  first  thoughts  of  sin,  whose  cheek 
he  causes  to  mantle  with  the  first  blush  of  virgin 
shame. 

Under  no  other  form  does  sin  appear  so  loathsome 
as  when  thus  concealed  beneath  religion's  garb ;  nor 
does  man  ever  so  closely  resemble  the  "  subtle  adver- 
sary of  souls,"  as  when,  clad  in  priestly  robe,  he  pours 


PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED.  25 

his  defiling  strains  into  the  confiding  ear  of  a  simple 
maid: 

"  Squat,  like  a  toad,  close  at  the  ear  of  iSve, 
Assaying  by  his  devilish  art  to  reach 
The  organs  of  her  fancy,  and  with  them  forge 

•  Elusions  as  he  list — phantasms  and  dreams — 
Or  if,  inspiring  venom,  ho  might  taint 
Th'  animal  spirits  that  from  pure  blood  arise, 
Like  gentle  breaths  from  rivers  pure ;  thence  raise 
At  least  distemper'd,  discontented  thoughts, 
Vain  hopes,  vain  aims,  inordinate  desires." 

Bailly  gives  the  following  instructions  to  a  priest- 
confessor  :  "  If  the  penitent  be  a  girl,  let  her  be  asked, 
has  she  ornamented  herself  in  dress  so  as  to  please  the 
male  sex  ?  or  for  the  same  end  has  she  painted  herself, 
or  bared  her  arms,  her  shoulders,  or  her  bosom  ? 
Whether  she  has  frequented  church  in  order  that  she 
might  show  herself  to  be  looked  at?  Whether,  in 
company  with  others,  she  has  spoken,  read,  or  sung, 
anything  immodest  ?  Whether  sbs  is  not  attached  to 
some  one?  Whether  she  has  not  allowed  him  to 
take  liberties  with  her?  Whether  she  has  not 
allowed  him  to  kiss  her?  But  if  opportunity  shall 
offer  for  carrying  the  inquiry  farther,  the  confessor 
will  do  his  duty,  but,  however,  prudently  and 
cautiously."  ' 

Only  think  of  the  unparalleled  impudence  of  these 
bachelor  priests  in  thus  catechising  young  ladies  !  I 
must  confess  that  if  I  were  one  of  the  fair  penitents. 
and  a  saucy  priest  put  any  such  impertinent  questions 
to  me,  I  should  box  his  ears  for  him  and  never  cross 
the  threshold  of  his  inquisitorial  vestry  again ! 


26  PKIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

Bat  all  that  wait  on  the  disciple  of  Sanchez,  Liguori, 
and  filthy  Dens,  are  not  so  delicate,  refined,  and  pure, 
as  those  who  have  already  engaged  our  thoughts. 
There  come  in  troops,  men  and  women  of  all  sorts,  to 
confess  and  obtain  absolution  ;  many  of  them  stained 
with  vices  of  the  deepest  dye;  every  kind  of  tale, 
every  description  of  sin,  every  particularity  of  immod- 
est thoughts,  words,  and  acts,  are  poured  into  the 
prurient  ear  of  the  listening  priest,  so  that  his  mind,  at 
length,  becomes  a  great  immoral  cesspool,  into  which 
all  the  impurities  of  the  district  drain,  and  which  must 
receive  all  the  filth  of  an  entire  community.  Knowing 
what  I  do  of  a  Eomish  priest,  I  never  wonder  that  he 
cannot  look  an  honest  man  in  the  face,  for  what  with 
his  study  of  Eomish  unclean  casuistry,  what  with  his 
debauching  pure  minds  with  his  filthy  questions 
drawn  from  those  authorized  sources,  what  with  his 
receiving  into  his  own  mind  all  the  adulteries,  fornica- 
tions, unnatural  crimes,  unholy  actions,  desires,  and 
thoughts,  of  all  the  country  side,  his  mind  becomes 
a  quagmire  of  foul,  pestilent  impurities,  the  conscious- 
ness of  which  is  stamped  on  his  very  forehead. 

IV.  We  have  now  made  the  following  progress  with 
our  subject.  We  have  seen  the  Church  of  Kome  pro- 
pounding a  rule  of  life,  opposed  to  the  law  of  nature, 
binding  the  iron  shackles  of  compulsory  celibacy  on 
her  priesthood.  We  have  seen  her  corrupting  their 
minds  with  lessons  of  impurity,  and  defiling  their  imag- 
inations with  unclean  sophistry ;  and,  lastly,  we  have 
seen  her  sending  them  forth  into  the  world,  where  a 

1  Bailly,  vol.  vii.  p.  366. 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED.  27 

principal  part  of  their  duty  consists  in  confessing 
females  in  private ;  or,  in  other  words,  conversing  with 
them  on  topics  most  calculated  to  inflame  their  passions. 
And  now,  I  would  ask  this  audience,  whether  it  is 
possible  her  priesthood  can  be  preserved  pure  under 
these  circumstances  ?  Remember  that  this  process  is 
commenced  in  youth,  when  temptation  to  sin  is  at  the 
strongest,  and  the  passions  most  ungoverned.  Eemem- 
ber,  also,  it  is  not  only  the  quiet,  the  demure,  the 
frigid,  who  are  subjected  to  this  discipline,  but  the 
hot-tempered,  the  passionate,  the  sensual.  Look  at 
those  burly  Maynooth  priests,  men  of  the  coarsest 
clay,  who  are  lashing  their  infatuated  and  degraded 
followers  into  fury,  uproar,  and  bloodshed,  from  time 
to  time,  in  the  sister  isle ;  think  you  that  these  fel- 
lows are  to  be  trusted  alone  with  females,  after  having 
feasted  upon  Sanchez  and  filthy  Dens?  Assuredly 
not ;  the  system  is  one  of  monstrous  corruption,  the 
fruitful  parent  of  immorality  and  vice  ;  and  it  remains 
for  me  now  to  show  you  what  results  have  proceeded 
from  it,  the  practical  fruits  it  has  ever  borne.  The 
testimony  of  history,  and  the  voice  of  experience, 
have  ever  witnessed  to  this  fact,  that  compulsory  celi- 
bacy has  always  been  attended  with  frightful  corrup- 
tion. We  must  now  proceed  to  facts:  once  more  I 
am  reminded  of  the  danger  of  stirring  that  cesspool, 
on  the  borders  of  which  we  stand.  Without  facts, 
however,  it  is  impossible  to  establish  the  statement  I 
have  made ;  and  the  difficulty  is  not  to  find  the  facts, 
which  superabound,  but  to  select  those  which  can,  with 
any  decency,  be  produced.  A  solemn  sense  of  the 
responsible  duty,  in  times  like  these,  to  open  the  eyes  of 


28  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

men  to  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  has 
alone  induced  me  to  enter  on  this  revolting  subjec^ 
and  I  shall  spare  your  feelings  as  much  as  I  can,  yet 
the  truth  must  be  told. 

The  result  of  a  compulsory  celibaey  has  always  been 
to  deprave  the  morals  of  the  community,  and  espec- 
ially of  those  themselves  placed  in  that  false  position. 
I  shall  proceed  to  bring  forth  from  the  cesspool  of  his- 
tory a  few  of  the  facts  by  which  this  statement  is 
borne  out,  and  they  shall  refer  to  the  different  ages, 
since  the  experiment  was  tried — early,  mediaeval,  and 
present  times. 

With  respect  to  the  evil  consequences  of  celibacy  in 
early  times,  I  would  observe,  that  what  I  shall  adduce 
refers  not  exclusively  to  clerical  celibacy,  for  that  was 
not  established,  as  we  have  seen,  till  the  dark  age  of 
Hildebrand ;  but  I  conceive  the  case  becomes  all  the 
stronger,  for  if  monks  and  nuns,  under  a  foolish  vow 
of  celibacy,  did  nevertheless  fall  into  sin,  so  that  the 
whole  Church  became  scandalized  thereby,  though  the 
system  of  confession  did  not  exist,  and  the  writings  of 
filthy  Dens  had  not  yet  appeared,  how  much  stronger 
the  case  against  the  present  system  of  ecclesiastical 
celibacy,  with  all  these  evil  adjuncts  to  boot ! 

1.  Cyprian,  in  the  third  century,  inveighed  against 
the  nuns  on  account  of  their  shameless  licentiousness ; 
and  this  was  not  a  local  or  incidental  abuse,  for  it  has 
spread  itself  on  all  sides,  and  had  become,  notwith- 
standing all  remonstrances,  the  common  usage  of  the 
Coenobite  ascetics,  and  even  of  some  of  the  anchorites. 

2.  Chrysostom,  a  century  and  a  half  later,  though 
he  was  a  warm  admirer  of  celibacy,  yet  uttered  the 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  29 

following  mournful,  but  somewhat  ridiculous,  com- 
plaint of  its  evil  effects : 

"  What  a  sight  is  it,"  says  he,  "  to  enter  the  cell  of 
a  solitary  monk,  and  to  see  the  apartment  hung  about 
with  female  gear,  shoes,  girdles,  reticules,  caps,  bon- 
nets, spindles,  combs,  and  the  like,  too  many  to  men- 
tion !  But  what  a  jest  it  is  to  visit  the  abode  of  a  rich 
monk,  and  to  look  about  you,  for  you  find  the  solitary 
monos  surrounded  with  a  bevy  of  lasses,  one  might 
say,  just  like  the  leader  of  a  company  of  singing  and 
dancing  girls.  What  can  be  more  disgraceful?  And 
in  fact  the  monk  is  all  day  long  vexed  and  busied  with 
petty  affairs  proper  to  a  woman.  Not  merely  is  lie 
occupied  with  worldly  matters,  contrary  to  the  apo.s- 
tolic  precept,  but  even  with  feminine  cares  ;  and  these 
ladies  being  very  luxurious  in  their  habits,  as  well  as 
imperious  in  their  tempers,  the  good  man  was  liable  to 
be  sent  on  fifty  errands ;  to  the  silversmith's,  to  inquire 
if  my  lady's  mirror  were  finished,  if  her  vase  were 
ready,  if  her  scent-cruet  had  been  returned  ;  and  from 
the  silversmith's  to  the  perfumer's,  and  thence  to  the 
linendraper's,  and  thence  to  the  upholsterer's,  and  at 
each  place  he  has  twenty  particulars  to  remember. 
Then  add  to  all  these  cares  the  jars  and  scoldings  that 
are  apt  to  resound  in  a  house  full  of  pampered  women ! 
St  Paul  says,  '  Be  ye  not  the  servants  of  men ;'  shall 
we  not  then  cease  to  be  the  slaves  of  women,  and  •  this 
to  the  common  injury  of  all  ?" 

This  is  certainly  a  very  curious  peep  which  old 
Chrysostom  gives  us  into  the  habits  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, and  the-  raillery  of  the  ancient  divine  would 
almost  make  one  fancy  that  it  was  Will  Honeycomb 


30  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

pouring  forth  his  sparkling  wit  in  the  pages  of  the 
"Spectator."  But  where,  we  are  apt  to  exclaim,  have 
the  expurgatorial  doctors  of  the  "  Index  "  been?  If 
their  nimble  scissors  could  clip  the  pages  of  Father 
Chrysostom,  when  he  made  so  simple  a  statement  as 
that  "all  the  prophets  had  wives,"  what  were  they 
about  to  leave  unimpaired  so  profane  an  exposure  of 
the  habits  of  the  monks  ? 

I  would  here  observe,  that  it  would  be  a  very  use- 
ful thing  to  publish  an  edition  of  Chrysostom's  works 
in  Stockton ;  for  amongst  them  are  to  be  found  two 
treatises,  one  against  clerics  and  virgins  dwelling 
together,  another  against  virgins  dwelling  with  clerics, 
which  treatises,  had  they  been  some  time  ago  duly 
studied  and  regarded,  might  have  been  the  means  of 
preventing  much  scandal  in  this  place.  And  as  it  is 
said  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  let  me  tell 
you  the  reasons  given  in  defense  of  this  ancient  cus- 
tom. For  Chrysostom  informs  us  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  obloquy  it  brought  upon  the  church  amongst 
the  heathen,  and  the  scandal  it  created  amongst 
believers,  the  clerks  persisted  in  having  young  women 
to  dwell  with  them,  under  the  pretense  of  patronage  to 
the  worthy,  and  defense  to  the  helpless. 

I  pretend  not  sufficient  skill  in  the  laws  and  disci- 
pline of  the  Romish  Church  to  be  able  to  tell  whether 
the  decisions  of  the  Second  Council  of  Aries,  which 
was  held  in  the  fifth  century,  be  now  in  force ;  all  I 
would  say  is,  that  had  they  been  observed  in  the  town 
of  Stockton,  the  tongue  of  scandal  had  been  restrained 
her  license ;  for  by  that  council  it  was  enjoined,  "  that 
no  person  in  holy  orders,  above  that  of  deacon,  should 


PBIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  31 

have  dwelling  under  his  roof  any  woman,  save  his 
grandmother,  his  daughter,  his  niece,  or  his  wife.'; 
Much  more  needful,  methinks,  now-a-days,  this  whole- 
some statute,  when  Eomish  priests  are  forbidden 
either  wives  or  daughters,  though  in  some  parts  of  the 
world  they  still  have  nieces  enough,  who,  the  tongue 
of  rumor  reports,  do  ofttimes  "  dwell  under  their 
roof." 

Hearken  now,  to  Chrysostom's  mournful  dirge  over 
the  obsequies  of  fallen  celibacy  ; 

"  Alas !  my  soul,  may  I  well  exclaim,  and  repeat 
the  lamentable  cry  with  the  prophet,  alas !  my  soul — 
oar  virginity  has  fallen  into  contempt ;  the  veil  is  rent 
by  impudent  hands  that  parted  it  from  matrimony  : 
the  holy  of  holies  is  trodden  under  foot,  and  its  grave 
and  tremendous  sanctities  have  become  profane  :  and 
that  which  was  once  had  in  reverence  as  far  more 
excellent  than  matrimony  is  now  sunk  so  low  as  that 
one  should  rather  call  the  married  blest." 

Such  were  the  fruits  of  celibacy  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries. 

3.  We  will  now  proceed  down  the  course  of  time  to 
the  medieval  age  of  Gregory  the  First,  who  flourished 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  see  how  it  fared  with  celi- 
bacy in  these  later  times. 

Gregory  was  a  great  zealot  in  favor  of  clerical  celib- 
acy, as  we  have  already  seen;  but  what  were  the 
fruits  of  his  enforcing  this  unnatural  law  we  learn 
from  the  following  narrative,  given  us  by  Udalric, 
bishop  of  Augusta,  in  a  letter  to  Nicholas  the  First, 
where  he  says.  "  Gregory,  by  his  decree,  deprived 
priests  of  their  wives;  when,  shortly  after,  he  com- 


82  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

manded  that  some  fish  should  be  caught  from  the 
fish-ponds,  the  fishers,  instead  of  fish,  found  the  heads 
of  six  thousand  infants  that  had  been  drowned  in  the 
ponds.  When  G  egory  ascertained  that  the  children 
thus  killed  were  bjrn  from  the  concealed  sin  of  the 
priests,  he  forthwith  recalled  his  decree  and  purged 
the  sin  with  worthy  fruits  of  repentance,  extolling  the 
apostolic  command,  'It  is  better  to  marry  than  to 
burn,'  adding  from  himself,  '  It  is  better  to  marry  than 
to  be  the  occasion  of  death.' " 

Such  were  the  fruits  of  celibacy  under  Gregory  in 
the  fifth  century ! 

4.  We  now  come  to  the  testimony  of  the  celebrated 
Bernard  in  the  twelfth  centuiy.     He  exclaims,  "If, 
according  to  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel,  we  could  look 
behind  the  partition,  that  we  might  see  the  horrible 
thing  in  the   house  of  the  Lord,  perhaps  the  foulest 
abominations  would  appear  on  the  inside.     Alas  !  the 
enemy  of  man   hath  defiled  the  body  of  the  church 
with  the  execrable  ashes  of  the  Sodomites,  and,  indeed, 
the  most  filthy  and  abominable  crimes  have  defiled 
some  of  its  very  ministers  also.     Many  of  these  cannot 
be  concealed  on  account  of  their  multitude,  nor,  by 
reason  of  their  impudence,  do  they  court  concealment ; 
would  that  those  who  cannot  contain,  would  fear  to 
enroll  themselves  as  the  adherents  of  celibacy !     It  is 
better  to  marry  than  to  burn,  and  to  be  saved  in  the 
humble  grade  of   the  common  people,   than  to  live 
worse  and  to  be  judged  more  severely  in  the  sublime 
rank  of  the  clergy." 

5.  Pass  we  now  from   those  dark  ages  of  acknowl- 
edged corruption  to  nrDdern  times,  and  let  us  see  what 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED  33 

are  the  effects  of  compulsory  celibacy  in  this  age  of 
superior  refinement  and  morality  wherein  we  live. 
Would  we  judge  of  the  system  fairly,  however,  we 
must  see  how  it  works  in  really  Romish  countries, 
where  it  is  unrestrained  by  the  watchful  supervision 
of  Protestant  eyes  and  is  able  to  indulge  its  prurient 
tendencies  without  fear  of  detection. 

First,  then,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  South 
America;  there  the  celibacy  of  the  priesthood  has 
settled  down  into  a  tacitly  acknowledged  system  of 
concubinage,  which  differs  little  from  matrimony, 
except  in  the  absence  of  the  hallowed  sanction  of  the 
marriage-bond.  A  sea  captain,  who  traded  to  South 
America,  told  me  some  years  ago  that  when  his  ship 
was  lying  in  one  of  the  ports  of  that  country,  a  Rom- 
ish priest  came  on  board  one  day  desirous  of  engaging 
a  passage  for  himself  and  his  niece.  The  captain 
forthwith  led  him  to  the  gentlemen's  cabin,  where  he 
selected  one  of  the  best  state-rooms ;  after  which  the 
captain  proposed  to  show  him  the  ladies'  cabin,  that 
he  might  choose  one  for  his  niece,  but  the  reverend 
gentleman  declined,  saying  that  the  one  he  had  chosen 
would  do  very  well  for  them  both !  Our  worthy  cap- 
tain, however,  whose  unsophisticated  notions  of  celib- 
acy could  not  understand  such  strange  relationships,  in 
a' burst  of  honest  indignation  turned  the  reverend 
paramour  out  of  his  ship,  and  vowed  that  neither  he 
nor  his  niece  should  ever  set  foot  on  board  again. 

6.  That  system  of  concubinage  is  not  confined  to 
South  America,  and  is  not  an  invention  of  the  present 
refined  age,  for  we  read  in  Nicholas  de  Clemangis 
(about  A.D.  1400),  "  In  many  dioceses  the  rectors  of 


84  PRIESTLY   CEIJBACY   EXPOSED. 

parishes,  for  a  certain  stipulated  sum  to  the  prelates, 
generally  and  publicly  had  concubines." 

7.  And  among  the  Helvetians,  it  was  an  ancient  use 
and  custom,  that  when  they  received  any  new  priest 
into  their  churches  they  would  premonish  him  to  take 
his  concubine,  lest  he  should  attempt  any  misuse  with 
their  wives  and  daughters. 

8.  A  certain    German  bishop  is  reported  to   have 
said  in  a  certain  banquet,  that  in  one  year  there  were 
brought    unto    him    eleven   thousand   priests   which 
openly  kept  concubines.1 

9.  We  will  now  turn  our  attention  nearer  home,  and 
inquire  into  the  effects  of  celibacy  at  the  present  day 
in  Spain  and  France. 

The  Eev.  Joseph  Blanco  White,  a  Spanish  priest  of 
great  celebrity  and  unquestionable  veracity,  writing  on 
the  celibacy  of  the  priesthood,  expresses  himself  as 
follows : 

"My  feelings  are  so  painfully  vehement,  when  I 
dwell  upon  thi«  subject,  that  neither  the  freedom  I 
have  enjoyed  for  years,  nor  the  last  repose  of  the  vic- 
tims, the  remembrance  of  whom  still  wrings  tears 
from  my  eyes,  can  allay  the  bitter  pangs  of  my  youth. 
A  more  blameless,  ingenious,  religious  set  of  youths, 
than  that  in  the  enjoyment  of  whose  friendship  I 
passed  the  best  years  of  my  life,  the  world  cannot 
boast  of.  Eight  .of  us,  all  nearly  of  the  same  age, 
lived  in  the  closest  bond  of  affection  from  sixteen  till 
one  and  twenty.  Of  this  knot  of  friends,  not  one  was 
tainted  by  the  breath  of  gross  vice,  till  the  church  had 

1  Lasicius  in  Theolog.  Moscov.  cap.  15,  ex  Joann.  peregrin,  in  con- 
riv.  p.  168.  Spirje,  1682. 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  85 

doomed  them  to  a  life  of  celibacy,  and  turned  the  best 
affections  of  their  hearts  into  crime.  It  is  the  very 
refinement  of  church  cruelty  to  say  they  were  free, 
when  they  deprived  themselves  of  their  natural  rights. 
A  virtuous  youth  of  one-and. twenty,  who  is  made  to 
believe  Christian  perfection  inseparable  from  a  life  of 
celibacy,  will  easily  overlook  the  dangers  which  beset 
that  state  of  life.  Those  who  made  and  those  who 
still  support  the  unnatural  law,  which  turns  the  mista- 
ken piety  of  youth  into  a  source  of  future  vice,  ought 
to  have  learnt  mercy  from  their  own  experience :  but 
a  priest  who  has  waded,  as  most  do,  through  the  miry 
slough  of  a  life  of  incessant  temptation,  falling  and 
rising,  stumbling,  struggling,  and  falling  again,  con- 
tracts, generally,  habits  of  mind  not  unlike  those  of 
the  guards  of  oriental  beauty.  Their  hearts  have  been 
seared  with  envy. 

"  I  cannot  think  on  the  wanderings  of  the  friends  of 
my  youth  without  heartrending  pain.  One,  now  no 
more,  whose  talents  raised  him  to  one  of  the  highest 
dignities  of  the  Church  of  Spain,  was  for  many  years 
a  model  of  Christian  purity ;  when,  by  the  powerful 
influence  of  his  mind,  and  the  warmth  of  his  devotion, 
this  man  had  drawn  many  into  the  clerical  and  relig- 
ious life,  he  sank  at  once  into  the  grossest  and  most 
daring  profligacy.  I  heard  him  boast  that  the  night 
before  the  solemn  procession  of  Corpus  Christi,  where 
he  appeared  nearly  at  the  head  of  his  chapter,  one  of 
two  children  had  been  born,  which  his  two  concubines 
had  brought  to  light  within  a  few  days  of  each  other. 

"  Such,  more  or  less,  has  been  the  fate  of  my  early 
friends,  whose  minds  and  hearts  were  mucji  above  the 


36  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

common  standard  of  the  Spanish  clergy.  What,  then, 
need  I  say  of  the  vulgar  crowd  of  priests,  who,  coming, 
as  the  Spanish  phrase  has  it,  from  coarse  swaddling- 
clothes,  and  raised  by  ordination  to  a  rank  of  life  for* 
which  they  have  not  been  prepared,  mingle  vice  and 
superstition,  grossness  of  feeling  and  pride  of  office,  in 
their  character  ?" 

What  a  complete  likeness  does  this  graphic  picture 
bear  to  the  Maynooth  priest,  supported  by  English 
money,  and  then  sent  forth  like  the  plagues  of  Egypt, 
over  our  country,  to  corrupt  the  morals  and  pervert 
the  faith  of  our  people ! 

We  must  now  turn  to  France.  The  following 
description  of  the  priests  of  that  country  is  from  one 
of  themselves,  and  is  extracted  from  a  work  entitled, 
"Confessions  of  a  French  Catholic  Priest,"  edited  by 
Samuel  Morse,  in  the  year  1836,  in  the  city  of  New 
York: 

"  I  shall  surprise  you  by  saying,  that  in  France,  the 
immense  majority  of  young  men  in  our  seminaries  are 
not  corrupted ;  many  of  them  are  virtuous.  They  are 
ignorant,  superstitious,  fanatical,  but  I  declare  they 
are  not  vicious ;  that  may  be  conceded,  although 
apparently  in  contradiction  to  their  indecent  studies — 
for  they  are  taught  it  is  necessary  to  learn  these  in 
order  to  be  able  to  fulfil  their  duty,  and  that,  to  hear 
confession  in  all  its  extent,  it  is  necessary  to  know  all 
human  perversity.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  can  affirm 
that  it  is  painful  to  the  sense  of  decency  in  man  to  be 
obliged  to  be  familiar,  as  we  are  with  such  books. 

"  But  the  corruption  of  the  clergy  begins  when  they 
are  out  of  the  seminary.  Young  men  are  sent  into  a 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  37 

parish  in  the  quality  of  curates  or  vicars.  At  the 
commencement  they  fulfill  their  duty  with  care,  and 
for  a  time  remain  faithful  to  their  vows.  Many  have 
told  me  this  after  their  fall.  By  and  by  they  open 
astonished  eyes.  Restored  to  freedom,  after  ten  or 
twelve  years' thraldom  in  a  college,  they  become  dif- 
ferent men,  and  gradually  forget  their  vows.  '  Oh  ! ' 
said  a  young  priest,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  after  having 
four  or  five  years  discharged  the  duties  of  his  station, 
'God  only  knows  what  I  have  suffered  during  this 
time:  if  [  have  fallen,  it  is  not  without  fighting:  had  I 
been  allowed  to  choose  a  wife,  a^  such  is  the  law  of 
God,  who  destines  man  to  marriage,  whatever  our 
rules  teach  to  the  contrary,  I  should  have  remained 
virtuous ;  I  should  have  been  the  happiest  man  in  the 
world ;  I  should  have  been  a  good  and  holy  priest, 
while  now  I  am — 0 !  I  am  ashamed  of  myself.'  " 

What  a  sad  picture  is  this !  and  does  it  not  call 
forth  our  feelings  of  sympathy  and  compassion  toward 
those  unhappy  men  who  are  placed  under  such  cruel 
bondage,  and  exposed  to  such  superhuman  tempta- 
tions, by  the  ambition  and  the  wickedness  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  ? 

Our  author  proceeds  :  "  The  resolution  being  taken 
of  enjoying  life,  as  they  say,  after  having  been  so  long 
deprived  of  it,  the  only  question  is  to  enjoy  it  safely 
and  secretly,  viz.,  without  dishonor.  In  this  manner, 
through  their  dark  ministry,  they  have  immense  power 
upon  the  minds  of  women,  for  they  attack  only  those 
whose  dispositions  they  have  long  studied  in  confession. 
A  priest,  in  a  parish  not  far  from  mine,  laid  his  snare 
for  a  young  married  woman,  who  had  the  reputation 


88  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

for  piety  because  she  attended  mass  every  morning. 
He,  through  his  diabolical  arguments,  triumphed  over 
her  scruples.  She  went  to  him  in  the  vestry  almost 
every  morning,  before  the  bell  rang  for  mass.  He 
confessed  and  absolved  her,  and  she  received  the  com- 
munion at  the  altar.  The  good  people  said,  admiring 
her  daily  practice,  '  How  pious  is  this  young  wife ;  she 
partakes  of  the  sacrament  every  day ;  she  is  doubt- 
less a  saint ! ' 

"  There  are  no  means  which  their  cunning  does  not 
invent  to  meet  with  victims.  But  if  a  priest,  in  spite 
of  his  proverbial  cunning,  be  discovered  and  be 
denounced  to  the  Bishop  by  public  opinion,  he  may  be 
removed,  in  order  to  silence  the  scandal,  and  sent  to  a 
distance  where  he  is  unknown." 

There  is  a  variety  of  details  of  a  similar  kind,  which 
time  will  not  permit  me  to  produce,  showing  how  dis- 
astrous are  the  results  of  this  wicked  compulsion  to 
celibacy  over  the  morals  of  the  priests  in  France  at  the 
present  day. 

10.  Seeing  then,  that  such  is  the  immoral  tendency 
of  celibacy  in  Romish  countries,  are  we  to  suppose  that 
the  system  fares  any  better  in  other  lands  ?  If  it  could 
be  shown  that  this  were  really  the  case,  what  a 
triumph  would  it  be  over  Rome !  If,  after  the  unques- 
tionable evidence  that  wherever  Rome  is  dominant  her 
celibate  priesthood  is  dissolute,  it  could  be  shown  that 
in  other  lands  they  are  pure,  surely  this  would  be  a 
strong  admission  in  favor  of  non-Catholicism ;  and  the 
Church  of  Rome  should  feel  deeply  indebted  to  those 
she  stigmatizes  as  heretics,  since  they  have  done  for 
her  priesthood  what  with  all  her  power  she  is  unable 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  39 

to  do  herself,  viz.,  to  keep  them  pare.  Bat  I  claim 
no  such  merit  on  our  behalf,  for  I  don't  believe  that  a 
celibate  priesthood  is  pure  in  England,  any  more  than 
in  South  America,  Spain,  France,  or  any  other  Popish 
country.  They  are  men  of  like  passions  with  their 
brethren  abroad,  and  the  same  causes  will  produce  the 
same  effects ;  the  only  difference  being  that  greater  cau- 
tion and  circumspection  must  be  used  where  non-Cath- 
olic eyes  are  looking  on,  and  a  free  press  is  ever  ready 
to  hold  up  the  offender  to  public  ignominy  and 
shame. 

Now  the  statements  which  I  have  produced  are 
entirely  borne  out  by  the  testimony  of  Eome  herself. 
"We  never  think  of  making  laws  against  crime  till  the 
crime  itself  exists.  I  don't  believe  that  ever  there 
was  a  law  against  sheep-stealing  till  after  that  sheep 
had  frequently  been  stolen,  and  men  began  to  find  the 
loss  of  their  sheep  an  intolerable  nuisance.  Now,  so 
corrupt  a  thing  is  clerical  celibacy,  that  it  has  given 
rise  to  a  new  crime,  and  Rome  enjoys  the  unenviable 
notoriety  of  having  to  enact  ecclesiastical  statutes  to 
check  a  vice  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
world. 

This  crime  is  known  by  the  name  of  "  Solicitatio," 
and  its  perpetrators  are  called  "  Solicitants."  In  plain 
English,  it  is  the  seduction,  or  attempt  at  seduction,  of 
a  female  penitent  by  a  priest  in  the  confessional. 

11.  So  scandalous  was  the  immorality  of  the  priest- 
hood in  Spain  in  the  sixteenth  century,  that  Paul  IV. 
was  obliged  to  issue  a  bull,  of  which  the  following  is 
an  extract:  "Whereas  certain  ecclesiastics  in  the 
kingdom  of  Spain,  and  in  the  cities  and  dioceses  there- 


40  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

of,  having  the  cure  of  souls,  have  broken  out  into  such 
heinous  acts  of  iniquity  as  to  abuse  the  sacrament  of 
penance,  in  ,he  very  act  of  hearing  the  confessions,  by 
enticing  and  provoking  females  to  lewd  actions,  at  the 
very  time  when  they  were  making  their  confes- 
sions." 

12.  Such  was  the  prefatory  introduction  to  this 
famous  bull  of  Paul  IV.  And  the  blow  aimed  at  her 
immoral  priesthood  was  followed  up  by  a  solemn  edict 
of  the  inquisitors,  published  in  all  the  churches  of  the 
Archbishopric  of  Seville,  that  "  any  person  knowing, 
or  having  heard  of  any  friar  or  clergyman  having 
committed  the  said  crime,  should  make  discovery  of 
what  he  knew,  within  thirty  days,  to  the  Holy  Tri- 
bunal." 

When  this  edict  was  published,  such  "  a  number  of 
females  went  to  the  palace  of  the  Inquisitor  in  Seville 
alone,  to  reveal  the  conduct  of  their  infamous  confess- 
ors, that  twenty  notaries,  and  as  many  inquisitors, 
were -appointed  to  take  down  their  several  informa- 
tions ;  but  these  being  found  insufficient,  and  the 
inquisitors  being  overwhelmed  with  such  a  pressure  of 
business,  thirty  days  more  were  allowed  for  taking  the 
accusations ;  and  this  time  proving  likewise  insufficient, 
had  to  be  extended  again  and  again.  Ladies  of  rank, 
character,  and  noble  family,  flocked  to  the  Tribunal ; 
but  the  authorities  in  Eome  were  so  alarmed  at  the 
storm  they  had  raised,  that,  fearful  of  the  consequences 
of  such  an  exposure,  they  hushed  matters  up  the  best 
way  they  could ;  and  this  Holy  Tribunal,  contrary  to 
the  expectation  of  every  one,  put  an  end  to  the  busi- 
ness, by  ordering  that  all  crimes  of  this  nature  should 


PBIESTLY   CELIBACY   KKPOSEP,  41 

thenceforth  be  consigned  to  perpetual  silence  and 
oblivion."  * 

13.  Many  bulls  have  been  since  published,  proving 
that  this  monstrous  vice  still  abounded.  Thus,  Greg- 
ory XV.,  in  1622,  Benedict  XIV.,  in  1741,  and  again 
in  1745,  fulminated  their  ineffectual  thunders  against 
those  priestly  celibates  who  were  guilty  of  so  mon- 
strous a  crime. 

I  cannot  close  this  branch  of  our  subject  without  a 
word  or  two  about  nunneries. 

Such  is  the  authority  which  Eome  now  arrogates  for 
herself  within  the  territories  of  Queen  Victoria,  that 
notwithstanding  the  majesty  and  power  of  the  law 
extend  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  yet 
has  Rome  dared  to  set  the  officer  of  justice  at  defiance, 
and  to  say  to  him,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  no 
further."  There  is  no  nook  or  corner  in  this  well- 
ordered  country,  whither  the  ends  of  justice  may  not 
be  pursued,  save  and  except  those  consecrated  prisons 
which  Rome  has  established  on  the  free  soil  of  Brit- 
ain, whose  grated  portals  bid  defiance  to  the  authority 
of  the  Queen  on  her  throne. 

It  is  too  bad  that  Romish  priests  should  be  per- 
mitted to  inveigle  young  women  into  nunneries  in 
this  land  of  liberty,  and  having  got  them  there, 
should  be  suffered  to  lock  them  up  in  durance  vile  ; 
when  once  their  tender  feet  have  been  involved  in  the 
snares  and  bird-lime  set  for  them  by  Rome's  bird- 
catchers,  farewell  forever  all  hopes  of  liberty !  How- 
ever much  they  afterwards  repent  the  foolish  step — 

1  Nai  rative  of  the  Inquisition,  etc.1.,  by  Hyppolite  Joseph  Da  Costa 
Pereiro  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  vol.  1,  pp.  117-119. 


42  PRIESTLY   CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 

however  widely  their  eyes  may  afterwards  be  opened — 
though  their  heart-strings  should  crack  with  passionate 
desires  of  freedom,  and  their  souls  sicken  in  the  hope- 
less despair  of  perpetual  bondage — for  them  no  door 
of  hope  is  open,  no  avenue  of  mercy  within  their 
reach ; — though  dwelling  on  the  soil  of  Britain,  the 
land  of  freedom,  yet  are  they  the  veriest  slaves,  the 
serfs  of  Eome,  compared  with  whose  most  pitiable 
condition  the  negro's  servitude  is  an  enviable  lot. 

To  such  an  extent  has  Rome  carried  her  defiance 
of  law,  that  an  honored  stranger  has  been  robbed  in 
England  of  his  lawful  wife,  and  to  this  moment  is 
unable  to  obtain  justice  in  this  land. 

I  blush  for  our  country,  for  the  weakness  of  law, 
for  our  debased  subserviency  to  Rome,  that  a  stran- 
ger should  have  appealed  in  vain  for  justice  at  the 
highest  tribunal,  and  that  the  House  of  Commons 
should  have  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  a  petition  "  to  right 
a  poor  man  in  his  brave  struggle,  after  long  endurance 
in  England  of  such  wrong  as  no  tribe  of  red  Indians 
in  his  native  laud  would  not  have  risen  up  in  mass  to 
vindicate  upon  its  perpetrator."  My  heart  bleeds  for 
the  sufferings  which  Pierce  Connelly  has  endured  in 
our  land  at  the  hands  of  Rome.  It  makes  one  hang 
one's  head,  and  almost  ashamed  of  the  name  of 
Englishman,  to  think  that  our  country  could  suffer 
such  indignities  and  such  injustice  to  be  heaped  on 
the  head  of  a  stranger,  who  has  in  vain  demanded, 
petitioned,  and  implored  that  his  lawful  wife  be  set 
free  from  the  clutches  of  Rome,  and  restored  to  her 
husband  and  children. 

Whenever  nunneries  have  been  thrown   open  tc 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED.  43 

public  gaze,  they  have  proved  dens  of  infamy  and 
sharne,  little  better  than  ecclesiastical  seraglios,  so  that 
one  ceases  to  wonder  at  the  watchful  jealousy  of  the 
priestly  porters. 

If  it  be,  as  their  advocates  contend,  that  these 
secluded  sisters  are  so  serenely  happ}^  so  tranquil  and 
contented,  so  virtuous  and  so  seraphic,  so  blessed  with 
celestial  peace  and  joy  in  their  voluntary  retirement, 
then  I  ask,  why  those  gloomy  walls,  those  massive 
locks,  those  grated  windows,  those  blockaded  portals  ? 
As  soon  would  I  believe  that  the  wiry  cage  that  con- 
fines the  mournful  lark  was  not  expressly  meant  to  bar 
her  egress  to  the  joyous  fields,  where  rising  on  glad- 
some wing,  and  towering  to  heaven's  gate,  she  might 
pour  her  celestial  notes  in  joyful  strain,  wild  in  the 
freedom  of  her  glad  escape — as  that  these  bars  and 
bolts  of  monastic  gloom  are  not  placed  to  check  the 
longed-for  escape  of  imprisoned  slaves. 

Such  strict  watch  and  guard  however  are  needed, 
not  merely -to  retain  the  bodies  of  unwilling  victims, 
but  likewise  to-  place  restraint  on  rumor,  with  her 
many  tongues,  that  deeds  of  darkness  may  not  come 
to  light 

I  will  now,  however,  give  you  a  few  revelations  of 
what  goes  on  inside  these  nunneries,  notwithstanding 
the  lynx-eyed  jealousy  of  their  priestly  conservators 
to  conceal  it  from  the  light  of  day. 

14.  In  the  year  673,  the  Council  of  Cloveshoe 
found  it  necessary  to  order  that  "  the  monasteries 
should  not  be  turned  into  places  of  amusement  for 
harpers  and  buffoons,  and  that  laymen  should  not  be 
admitted  within  their  walls  too  freely,  lest  they  might 


44 


PRIESTLY   CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 


be  scandalized  at  the  offences  they  might  discover 
there ;  because  on  this  account,  not  only  causes  of 
divers  and  nefarious  suspicion  arises,  but  they  are  prop- 
agated and  repeated,  to  the  disgrace  of  our  profession. 
Wherefore  let  not  the  cells  of  the  nuns  be  the  abodes 
of  shameful  talking,  drunkenness,  and  luxurj7."  ' 

Boniface  wrote  as  follows,  in  A.  D.  730:  "And  we 
are  informed  that  which  is  worse ;  this  crime  of  great- 
est magnitude  (fornication)  is  committed  with  nuns 
throughout  the  convents,  and  with  virgins  dedicated 
to  God.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  that  crime  another 
great  wickedness  lies,  because,  whilst  those  harlots 
produce  offspring  wickedly  conceived  in  sin,  they 
often,  for  the  most  part,  kill  them,  not  filling  the 
Church  of  Christ  with  adopted  sons,  but  satiating  the 
grave  with  bodies,  and  hell  with  miserable  souls." " 

16.  In  the  year  1177,   "  thirty  nuns  of  the  monas- 
tery of  Amesbury  were  accused  and  convicted  for  their 
unclean  lives,  whereupon  the  king,  having  expelled  the 
nuns  for  their  incontinence,  distributed  them  in  other 
houses,  to  be  more  strictly  guarded.  "* 

17.  But    I   might   detain   you   till   midnight   with 
details  of  this  kind,  and  we  will  therefore  advance  on 
to  the  day  of  Eeformation,  when  a  thorough  exposure 
of  these  infamous  houses  was  made,  and  we  are  able 
to  ascertain  what  was  the  state  of  the  nunneries  of 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century.     The  commission 
era  appointed   by  Henry  VIII.  to  inquire  into   the 

1  Wilkins'  Concilia,  i.  97. 

*  Epist.  of  Boniface  to  Ethelbald. 

*  Prynne,  ii.  228. 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  45 

state  of  the  monasteries,  reported  that  "  monstrous  dis- 
orders were  found  in  many  religious  houses — whole 
convents  of  women  abandoned  to  lewdness,  signs  of 
abortion  procured,  of  infants  murdered,  and  of  unnat- 
ural lusts."  This  testimony  was  confirmed  by  another 
body  of  commissioners,  appointed,  not  by  Henry,  but 
by  Paul  III. 

18.  Similar  details  I  could  give  you,  did  time  per- 
mit, of  the  immoral  state  of  nunneries  in  succeeding 
years,  nearer  our  own  times  ;  thus,  it  is  related,  "  that 
on  taking  down  two  convents  of  monks  and  nuns  that 
were  contiguous,  about  fifty  years  ago,  there  tumbled 
out  as  many  dry  bones  of  infants  as  would  fill  a  large 
basket,  and  a  private  trap-door  was  found  which  com- 
municated from  one  convent  to  the  other."1     A  pre- 
cisely similar  discovery  took  place  a  few  years  ago  at 
Quebec,  when,  on  clearing  away  the  foundation  of  a 
nunnery,  a  quantity  of  bones  and  remains  of  infants 
were  found  beneath  the  pavement. 

19.  And  now  coming  down  to  our  own  times,  in  the 
year  1823  the  bodies  of  two  newly-born  infants  were 
found  by  the  gardener,  buried  within  the  walls  of  the 
nunnery  of  Dungarvon.     This  discovery,  though  sup- 
pressed by  the  priests,  at  length  blazed  out  and  came 
to   trial,   when   it   was  clearly    proved    that  Fathei 
Mahcr,  P.   P.  of  Dungarvon,  was  the  father  of  these 
children,  by  two  nuns  of  the  house;  and  three  ser- 
vants of  the  nunnery  testified  on  oath  that  the  said 
Father  Maher  had  had  improper  intercourse  with  no 
less  than  nine  of  these  nuns  at  certain  intervals. 

1  Hist  of  Switzerland,  p.  767. 


46  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

And,  lastly,  I  shall  give  you  a  peep  into  our 
English  nunneries  at  the  present  time.  A  lady,  con- 
fined in  an  English  nunnery,  as  we  have  reason  to  sup- 
pose, against  her  will,  or  at  all  events  against  her  hus- 
band's will,  has  communicated  to  her  hasband  an 
attempt  made  upon  her  chastity  by  a  Romish  priest 
Under  these  circumstances,  I  am  not  at  all  surprised 
that  the  injured  husband  should  feel  himself  aggrieved 
or  complain  that  "  the  copper  Cardinal  has  a  suite  of 
apartments  in  the  same  house  with  my  wife;  and 
though  he  or  any  filthy  priest  may  be  closeted  with 
her  alone,  and  by  authority,  for  hours,  yet  at  this 
moment,  in  England,  that  mother  is  not  allowed  to  see 
her  daughter  for  one  moment  alone." 

20.  The  following  statement  may  farther  satisfy 
your  mind,  if  further  proof  you  need,  that  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  in  England,  those  closely  ware  lied  and  care- 
fully barred  nunneries  are  not  at  all  times  the  seats  of 
secluded  innocency,  angelic  purity,  and  celestial  devo- 
tion : 

"  I  had  a  long  audience  of  leave  from  the  Pope,  in 
1848,  and  was  charged  by  His  Holiness  with  a  message 
to  a  near  relative,  living  in  a  convent  in  England.  On 
arriving,  in  June,  I  went  to  the  convent  and  rang  at 
the  priest's  door ;  I  was  told  that  the  priest  was  not 
up,  as  he  was  not  well,  and  I  was  shown  into  a  parlor. 
After  waiting  for  some  time,  I  went  up  stairs,  and 
opened  his  bedroom  door.  The  priest  was  quite  well, 
he  was  not  more  than  half  dressed,  and  a  young  nun 
was  standing  by  him,  who  on  seeing  me,  immediately 
fled.  I  made  a  representation  to  the  Bishop,  but  the 
priest  was  not  removed." 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED  47 

I  am  indebted  for  the  above  to  Mr.  Drummond, 

who  has  thoroughly  exposed  the  filthy  purlieus  of  a 
nunnery,  in  his  able  pamphlet,  and  he  is  prepared  to 
produce  the  name  of  the  person  from  whom  he 
received  this  communication.  I  believe  the  priestly 
paramour  thus  detected  was  none  other  than  Dr. 
Asperti,  whom  Mr.  Connelly  denounced  to  Dr.  Ulla- 
thorne,  as  having  detected  him  with  a  nun  in  his  bed- 
chamber. 

I  think  I  have  now  given  you  facts  enough  to 
satisfy  any  reasonable  man  of  the  immoral  tendency 
of  priestly  celibacy;  and  if  there  be  any  individual 
present  who  does  not  now  understand  the  subject,  I 
must  decline  the  attempt  to  enlighten  that  man's 
mind. 

It  may  be  asked,  what  possible  motive  can  Rome 
have  for  clinging  with  such  tenacity  to  this  unnatural 
law  of  celibacy?  When  hard  driven  by  her  adversa- 
ries, she  is  obliged  to  give  up  Scriptural  authority,  and 
to  plead  that  it  is  merely  a  matter  of  discipline;  but 
she  has  had  painful  experience  of  that  discipline,  she 
has  found  it  a  total  failure,  she  has  long  since  discov- 
ered its  immoral  tendencies,  and  by  her  edicts  and 
bulls  has  again  and  again  proclaimed  its  mischievous 
consequences.  Like  unto  whited  sepulchres,  it  has 
indeed  appeared  beautiful  outwardly,  but  within  it  is 
full  of  dead  infants'  bones  and  all  uncleanliness. 
Instead  of  promoting  sanctity,  it  has  produced  vice  ; 
instead  of  exalting  men  to  heights  of  seraphic  holi- 
ness, it  has  debased  them  in  the  mire  of  impurity. 

Why,  then,  persist  in  it,  since  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
discipline  and  has  failed  so  egregiously?     I  wiU  tell 


48  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

you  why.  True,  it  has  utterly  failed  to  restrain  or 
sanctify  the  priesthood,  but  it  has  not  failed  of  the 
great  end  which  Hildebrand  had  in  view  from  t)ie 
first,  and  which,  since  then,  has  never  been  lost  sight 
of  by  the  crafty  rulers  of  Eome.  It  has  not  failed 
as  an  instrument  of  her  aggrandizement  and  her 
power. 

The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  may  be  termed  one  of 
the  most  powerful  political  engines  ever  devised  by 
cunning  and  wielded  by  ambition ;  by  this  means  the 
Pope  has  brought  iato  existence  an  ecclesiastical  body- 
guard for  the  defense  of  Popedom  throughout  the 
world ;  a  corps  of  spiritual  Janizaries,  detached  from 
all  ties,  domestic,  social,  patriotic — men  without 
family,  without  country,  without  aim  or  object,  except 
the  aggrandizemenj;  of  their  body,  in  blind  obedience 
to  their  spiritual  head. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Pope  of  Rome  clings 
with  instinctive  grasp  to  the  doctrine  of  priestly 
celibacy.  No  wonder  that  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
outcries  of  Germany,  when  the  representatives  of  the 
people  in  the  kingdom  of  Wurtemburg  did,  from  time 
to  time,  solicit  him  that  their  clergy  might  be  allowed 
to  marry. 

No  wonder  that  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  petition 
of  the  unhappy  slaves  of  this  vicious  custom,  a  petition 
signed  by  two  hundred  and  eighty  Romish  clergymen, 
in  the  grand  dukedom  of  Baden,  imploring  His  Holi- 
ness to  repeal  the  obnoxious  law,  to  knock  off  their 
embittered  shackles,  and  give  them  leave  to  marry. 

But  no !  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  is  too  useful  an 
instrument,  too  powerful  a  weapon  !  Rome  will  never 


PRIASTLY  CELIBACY  EXPOSED.  49 

cancel  the  decree  of  Hildebrand,  for  by  it  she  is 
furnished  with  such  a  body  of  spies  as  never  secular 
tyrant  could  boast  of. 

She  hath  sent  forth  her  emissaries  over  the  face  of 
the  earth,  everywhere  devoted  to  her  service,  cut  off 
from  all  inferior  attachments  of  family  and  country  to 
do  her  bidding.  Napoleon  had  his  spies  in  every 
quarter,  but  that  great  general  could  only  survey  the 
outside  of  things  by  means  of  his  espionage.  Rome 
gets  within,  scans  the  secret  motives  of  men's  deeds, 
has  tidings  of  every  contemplated"  act,  private  and 
public,  before  its  execution;  by  means  of  this  power 
she  reigns  as  a  queen,  arid  laughs  at  the  princes  of  the 
earth.  Give  up  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  ?  No, 
never!  Never,  whilst  she  can  wield  the  sceptre  of  her 
power,  seated  on  the  seven  hills. 

Rome  has  put  dishonor  upon  the  sacred  bond  oi 
matrimony ;  for  though  she  pretends  to  exalt  it  as  a 
sacrament,  in  order  that  she  may  have  a  priestly  po'/ver 
to  exercise,  or  in  other  words,  what  she  loves  above 
all  things,  a  finger  in  every  man's  pie  ;  yet  she  has 
insulted  the  marriage  bond,  by  extolling  celibacy  as  a 
far  holier  state  ;  her  writers  constantly  express  them- 
selves in  terms  derogatory  of  marriage,  and  only  the 
other  day  Mr.  Connelly  was  abused  by  the  organ  of 
Rome  as  "  a  filthy  old  man,"  for  desiring  the  restitu- 
tion of  his  lawful  wife. 

Matrimony  is  adapted  for  the  highest  development 
of  all  that  is  great  and  good  in  man  ;  the  union  of  the 
two  sexes,  in  the  endearments  of  domestic  and  social 
life,  is  that  state  which  is  best  calculated  to  lead  on 
both  to  perfection,  to  soften  what  is  harsh,  to  strengthen 


60  PRIESTLY  CELIBACY   EXPOSED. 

what  is  weak :  it  ennobles  the  human  character,  drawa 
forth  the  sympathies  of  our  nature,  gives  scope  for  the 
best  feelings  of  the  heart,  excites  the  noblest  energies 
of  the  soul. 

"  Love  refines 

The  thoughts,  the  heart  enlarges,  hath  his  seat 
In  reason,  and  is  judicious ;  is  the  scale 
By  which  to  heavenly  love  thou  mayst  ascend, 
Not  sunk  in  carnal  pleasure." 

Eome  has  degraded  woman  from  her  rightful  place  in 
the  family  of  man ;  has  dragged  her  from  the  social 
board  and  the  happy  ties  of  domestic  life ;  has  cor- 
rupted her  mind ;  has  imprisoned  her  body  in  doleful 
solitude,  where  she  is  kept  against  her  will ;  and  I  say, 
had  Rome  no  other  guilt  to  answer  for  than  the  wrongs 
she  has  inflicted  on  woman,  she  would  still  deserve 
the  eternal  execrations  of  mankind. 

Are  we  then  to  remain  in  tame  quiescence,  whilst 
our  deadly  foe,  witn  rampant  energy,  invades  our 
domestic  hearth,  to  rob  us  of  our  social  peace  and 
home-endearing  joys '( 

Most  assuredly  not!  Morals  decay,  female  purity 
fades,1  the  human  mind  degenerates  beneath  the  blight 


1  The  Rev.  Mr.  Seymour  has  recently  published  some  statistics, 
which  bring  to  light  the  awful  and  almost  incredible  immorality  of 
Popish  countries — an  immorality  intimately  connected  with  the  sub- 
ject of  this  lecture^  nay,  one  of  the  natural  aud  necessary  consequen- 
ces of  priestly  celibacy,  which  seems  to  have  assisted  in  depraving  the 
morals  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community,  and  has  succeeded  in  low- 
ering the  standard  of  female  virtue,  as  compared  with  other  countries, 
by  at  least  forty  or  fifty  per  cent.  The  following  table  will  show  the 


PRIESTLY  CELIBACY    EXPOSED. 


51 


of  Home's  unhallowed  breath  ;  and  hampered  though 
we  be  by  truckling  politicians  and  luke-warm  friends, 
there  is,  I  trust,  enough  of  stern,  uncompromising 
principle  left  amongst  us  to  make  Rome  stand  back, 
and  to  drive  her  from  our  shores  in  dire  disgrace. 
The  ashes  of  our  martyrs  are  still  revered,  the  blood 
they  shed  still  cries  for  justice,  the  candle  they  lighted, 
though  dimmed,  is  not  extinguished ;  and,  I  trust,  the 
coming  struggle — for  come  it  must — will  rid  this  land 
for  ever  from  the  curse  of  priestly  celibacy,  and  all 
the  other  monstrous  figments  of  Rome's  unhallowed 
creed. 


comparative  per-centage  of  illegitimate  births  in  England,  and  in  the 
principal  Romish  countries  of  the  continent : 


Place. 

N 

.a 

0       tH 

A  a 
I& 

m 

'sb  "£> 
3% 

*s  "o 
'&1? 

3* 

Proportion  of  Illegitimate. 

London, 

1851 

78,300 

75,097 

3,203 

Four  per  cent 

Paris, 

1850 

29,628 

19,921 

9,707 

Thirty-three  per.  cent.,  or  on&- 
third. 

Brussels, 

1850 

5,281 

3,448 

1,833 

Thirty-five  per  cent.,  or  mor« 
than  one-third. 

Munich, 

1851 

3,464 

1,762 

1,702 

Forty-eight  per  cent.,  or  nearly 
one-half. 

Vien'a,  j 

1841 
1849 

16,682 
19,241 

8,941 
8,881 

7,741 
10,360 

Nearly  one-half. 
Upwards  of  one-half. 

Rome, 

4,373 

Foundlings  ex- 
posed in  one 
year,  3,160. 

Proportion  of  Foundlings  to 
births,  seventy-three  per  cent. 
or  near  three-fourths. 

Thus  does  Rome  maintain  her  pre-eminence  over  ah"  the  world  I 
Seventy-three  per  cent  of  the  births  in  the  city  o£  the  Seven  Hills,  the 
city  of  the  Pope  and  his  Cardinals,  illegitimate ! 


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Introduction.  I.  The  God  and  Man  of  the  Bible.  II.  God 
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— Was  He  the  Fulfillment  of  Hebrew  Prophecy  and  Expect- 
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XHI.  IB  There  a  God?  XIV.  Reward  and  Punishment.  XV. 
In»mortaHty.  XVI.  Conclusion. 


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RIGHT    LIVIi^G. 


By  SUSAN  H.  WIXOHT. 

Ethics  as  Understood  by  a  Student  of  Science.    S'.itj  Chap 
ters,  as  follows: 

Bight  Living,  The  Angel  of  Forg?  yeness. 

What  is  Morality?  Observation  a  Gjvit  Faculty, 

What  is  Ignorance  ?  Perseveram-e,  the  friend  of  JJaa. 

Knowledge  the  Great  Treasure,  Punctuality,  a  Piomoter  of  Suo- 

Concerning  Education,  cess, 

Conduct;  or  Right  Doing,  The  Difficulties  of  Life, 

Virtue,  the  Illuminator  of  Life,  Temotation,  the  Demon  on  the 

Prudence,  an  Economy  of  Life,  H  ehway, 

What  Know  le  of  Justice  ?  Habit,  Second  Nature, 

Fortit  ude  a  Noble  Possession,  Power  of  Will, 

Temperance  and  Intemperance,  Courage,  a  Necessity  to   Bight 

Is  the  Use  of  Tobacco  Dangerous  ?        Living 

Cultivation  of  Individuality,  In  Regard  to  Concealed  Vice, 

Character,  a  Jewel  of  Great  Price-.  Beautiful  Charity, 

Idleness,  another  Name  for  Loss,  Fidelity,  the  Giver  of  Strength 

Industry,  the  Staff  of  Life,  and  Honor, 

Value  of  a  Trade,  Value  of  Wealth, 

Becreation  a  Necessity,  Avarice,  Not  a  Means  to  Life's 

Games  of  Chance,  Best  End, 

Truth  and  Falsehood,  Good  Nature,  one  of  Life's  Best 

What  is  an  Oath?  or  the  Worth  Blossoms, 

of  a  Promise.  Reasoa  and  Free  Inquiry 

Fraud  a  Crime,  Free  Speech, 

The  Poison  of  Slander,  A  Free  Press, 

What  is  Hypocrisy  7  Rights  of  Animals, 

Conscience  or  Moral  Sense,  Rights  of  Children, 
Selfishness,  the  Menace  of  Society,  Human  Bights;  or  the  Equality 

Gratitude,  a     Fragrant  Flower  of        of  Man. 

Life,  Moral  Cleanliness, 

Is  Reverence  a  Duty?  Politeness.    The  Gentleman, 

Self-Reliance,  Politeness.  —  Continued.  —  The 

Self-Control,  Gentlewoman, 

Self-Bespect,  Best  Society, 
Foolish  Pride  and  Silly  Prejudice,  Progress;  or  Enlightenment: 

Anger,  the  Distorter,  Wisdom. 

Miss  Wixon  has  taken  as  her  mottoes  in  writing  this  beautiful 
book  of  292  pages— which  she  has  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  her  father 
and  mother — these  sentences  from  the  works  of  a  great  synthetic  phi- 
losopher and  a  gifted  liberal  minister: 

As  with  the  physical,  so  with  the  ethical.  A  belief,  as  yet  fltful 
ana  partial,  is  beginning  to  spread  amongst  men,  that  here,  also,  there  is 
an  indissoluble  bond  between  cause  and.  consequence,  an  inexorable  des- 
tiny, a  law  which  iltereth  not.— Htrbert  Spencer. 

Living  is  an  Art,  a  method  of  expressing  great  conceptions;  in 
fact,  the  highest  method,  the  noblest  of  the  Arts.— Thomas  Starr  King. 


".Bight  Living  "  is  well  bound  in  cloth  and  printed  on  good  paper. 
PRICE,  $1  00. 

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A  Book:  You  Will  W  ant  to  Read. 

The  Creed  of  Christendom.     WILLIAM   RATH- 
BONE  GREG.     400  pp.,  12mo.,  cloth,  $1.50. 

The  Foundations  contrasted  with  the  Super- 
structure.— A  work  so  celebrated  as  Mr.  Greg's 
needs  no  introduction  to  the  American  public. 
The  present  edition  has  been  reprinted  from  the 
latest  English — the  fifth.  Where  possible,  the 
references,  which  are  very  numerous,  have  been 
verified,  and  a  considerable  number  of  clerical 
and  typographical  errors  and  other  slips  have 
been  corrected.  These  emendations,  being  of  a 
minute  character — for  the  most  part  in  the  num- 
ber of  a  chapter  or  verse  in  the  Bible — have  been 
made  silently,  so  as  not  to  incumber  the  text  with 
additional  notes.  In  every  other  respect  the  text 
is  an  exact  reprint  of  the  English  edition.  The 
utility  of  the  work  has  been  still  further  enhanced 
by  the  addition  of  a  very  full  Index,  which  no 
previous  edition,  either  English  or  American,  has 
possessed.  By  this  means  it  is  hoped  that  the 
present  edition  has  been  made  the  most  accurate 
and  complete  ever  issued.  CONTENTS  :  Inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures. — Modern  Modifications  of  the 
Doctrine  of  Inspiration. — Authorship  and  Author- 
ity of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Old  Testament 
Canon  Generally. — The  Prophecies. — Theism  of 
the  Jews  Impure  and  Progressive. — Origin  of  the 
Gospels. — Fidelity  of  the  Gospel  History:  Nature 
and  Limits.—  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke.  Gospel 
of  John.  Eesults  of  the  Foregoing  Criticism. — 
The  Limits  of  Apostolic  Wisdom  and  Authority. 
— Miracles. — Resurrection  of  Jesus. — Is  Chris- 
tianity a  Revealed  Religion? — Christian  Eclecti- 
cism.— The  Great  Enigma. 

TRUTH  SEEKER  CO.,  28  Lafayette  PL,  New  York. 


A  3VEW  BIBLE  FICTTJRl^-UOOK. 

OLD  TESTAMENT  STORIES  COMIC 
ALLY  ILLUSTRATED, 


By  WATSON  HBSTON. 

CONTENTS: 

jnstaining  a  Theory— Some  Giants — Adventures  and  Work  of  Noah 
-•„  Hunting  Anecdote— Abraham,  Christ's  Great  Ancestor — A  Queer 
family— Isaac  and  His  "  Sister  " — One  of  Twins — Jacob  and  Esau— Joseph 
the  Man  of  Dreams— Holy  Moses— Balaam  the  Diviner— Bloody  Joshua — 
The  Campaign  of  Deborah  and  Barak  Against  Jabin  and  Sisera— General 
Gideon— Jephthah  and  Hi«  Human  Sacrifice— Samson  the  Strong— Ruth 
and  Boaz— Unstable  as  Water,  God  Shall  Not  Excel— David,  God's  Favo- 
rite—Some Stories  from  the  Book  of  Kings— Adventures  of  thj  Prophets- 
Jonah  the  Truthful  Sailor. 


Four  hundred  pages—Two  hundred   Full-Page    Picture 
The    Stories     Humorously    Told— And    Hard    FacV 
Give  •    Concerning  the  Origin   and  Authen- 
ticity of  the  Old  Testament— A  Page 
of    Text   to   Each   Picture. 

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WORKS   BY  J.  E.  REMSBURG. 

False  Claims.  Kevised  and  Enlarged.  As  a  Missionary 
Document  it  is  unexcelled.  Among  the  subjects  considered 
by  Mr.  Remsburg  are :  The  Church  and  Morality ;  Criminal 
Statistics,  showing  the  creeds  of  the  prisoners  in  the  peniten- 
tiaries; the  Church  and  Civilization;  the  Church  and  Sci- 
ence; the  Church  and  Learning;  the  Church  and  Liberty; 
the  Church  and  the  Antislavery  Reform;  the  "Woman's 
Rights  Movement ;  the  Temperance  Reform ;  the  Church  and 
the  Republic.  Price,  10  cents  singly ;  75  cents  per  dozen. 

Bible  Morals.  Twenty  Crimes  and  Vices  Sanctioned  by 
Scripture:  Falsehood  and  Deception;  Cheating;  Theft  and 
Robbery ;  Adultery  and  Prostitution ;  Murder ;  Wars  of  Con- 
quest and  Extermination ;  Despotism ;  Intolerance  and  Per- 
secution; Injustice  to  Woman;  Unkindness  to  Children; 
Cruelty  to  Animals ;  Human  Sacrifices;  Cannibalism ;  Witch- 
craft;  Slavery;  Polygamy;  Intemperance;  Poverty  and  Va- 
grancy; Ignorance  and  Idiocy;  Obscenity  Price,  single 
copies,  25  cents ;  6  copies,  $1.  Special  discount  on  largei 
quantities. 

Sabbath-Breaking.  This  is  the  best  and  most  thorough 
work  ever  written  on  the  Sabbath  from  a  rational  point  of 
view.  Large  and  handsome  print.  The  question  is  dis- 
cussed under  the  following  heads :  Origin  of  the  Sabbatic 
Idea;  the  Jewish  Sabbath;  the  Christian  Scriptures  and  the 
Sabbath;  Examination  of  Sunday  Arguments;  Origin  of 
Christian  Sabbath ;  Testimony  of  the  Christian  Fathers ;  th« 
Sabbath  during  the  Middle  Ages;  the  Puritan  Sabbath; 
Testimony  of  Christian  Reformers,  Scholars,  and  Divines; 
Abrogation  of  Sunday  Laws.  Price,  25  cents ;  six  copies,  $1. 

Image  Breaker.  Six  Lectures:  Decline  of  Faith, 
Protestant  Intolerance,  Wasliington  an  Unbeliever ;  Jefferson 
an  Unbeliever ;  Paine  and  Wesley ;  Christian  Sabbath. 
Each  5  cents ;  bound,  paper,  25  cents ;  per  doz.  40  cents. 

Thomas  Paine.  Tells  the  story  of  the  Author-Hero's 
life,  delineates  the  leading  traits  of  his  character  and  genius, 
and  vindicates  his  name  from  the  aspersions  cast  upon  it. 
Choice  extracts  from  "  Common  Sense,"  "  American  Crisis," 
"Rights  of  Man,"  and  "Age  of  Reason,"  ar  giver;  also, 
tributes  to  Paine's  character  from  more  than  one  hundred 
noted  persons  of  Europe  and  America,  many  of  them  written 
expressly  for  this  work.  Second  edition,  160  pages,  printed 
on  fine  tinted  paper,  neatly  bound,  and  containing  a  hand- 
some steel  portrait  of  Paine.  Paper,  50  cts ;  cloth,  75  cts. 

The  Apostle  Of  Liberty.  An  address  delivered  in 
Paine  Hall,  before  the  N.  E.  Freethinkers'  Convention,  Jan, 
uary  29,  1884.  Price,  10  cents. 

For  all  the  above  works  address  THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  CO.. 
28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


Books  YOUL  ^W^ant  to  Read. 


Bible  of  Nature.  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.D.  Clo.,  $1. 

The  Principles  of  Secularism.  A  Contribution 
to  the  Religion  of  the  Future.  Under  the  head 
of  "  Physical  Maxims"  Professor  Oswald  treats 
of  Health,  Strength,  Chastity,  Temperance,  Skill. 
Under  "  Mental  Maxims" — Knowledge,  Indepen- 
dence, Prudence,  Perseverance,  Freethought. 
"Moral  Maxims" — Justice,  Truth,  Humanity, 
Friendship,  Education.  "Objective  Maxims" — 
Forest  Culture,  Recreation,  Domestic  Reform, 
Legislative  Reform,  The  Priesthood  of  Secular- 
ism. The  Religion  of  the  Future,  of  which  this 
work  is  an  outline,  will  preach  the  gospel  of  Re- 
demption by  Reason,  by  Science.  Its  teachings 
will  reconcile  instinct  and  precept,  and  make 
nature  the  ally  of  education.  Dr.  Oswald  is  as 
epigrammatic  as  Emerson,  as  spicy  as  Montaigne, 
as  caustic  as  Heine,  and  one  of  the  most  uncom- 
promising Freethinkers  in  the  country. 

Christian  Absurdities.    JOHN  PECK.    Pap.,  20c. 

Pointing  out  the  things  which  the  world  calls 
absurd,  but  which  the  church  once  made  Chris- 
tian dogmas,  and  which  some  Christians  still 
believe.  One  of  the  sharpest  criticisms  of  cur- 
rent theology  in  print. 


Liberty  in  Literature.    R-  G.  INGERSOLL. 
50  cents;  paper,  25  cents. 

Testimonial  to  Walt  Whitman.  Address  de- 
livered in  Philadelphia,  October  21,  1890.  Also, 
ADDRESS  BY  COLONEL  INGERSOLL  AT 
THE  FUNERAL  OF  WALT  WHITMAN,  Cam- 
den,  N.  J.,  March  30,  1892. 

TRUTH  SEEKER  CO.,  28  Laiayette  PL,  New  York. 


Books  You  ^W^ant  to  Read- 
Limitations  Of  Toleration.    Paper,  10  cents. 

A  Discussion  between  Col.  ROBERT  G.  INGEB 
BOLL,  Hon.  FREDERIC  R.  COUDERT,  and  Ex-Gov 
STEWART  L.  WOODFORD  before  the  Nineteenth 
Century  Club  of  New  York.  Verbatim  report. 

Martyrdom  of  Man.  WINWOOD  READE.  Clo.,  $1. 
A  very  interestingly  pictured  synopsis  of  uni- 
versal history,  showing  what  the  race  has  under- 
gone— its  martyrdom — in  its  rise  to  its  present 
plane.  It  shows  how  War  and  Religion  have  been 
oppressive  factors  in  man's  struggle  for  Liberty, 
and  the  last  chapter,  of  some  150  pages,  describes 
his  intellectual  struggle  from  the  brute  period  to 
the  present,  adding  an  outline  of  what  the  author 
conceives  would  be  a  religion  of  reason  and  love. 
The  chapters  are  :  War  :  Egypt,  Western  Asia 
the  Persians,  the  Greeks,  the  Macedonians,  Alex- 
andria, the  Phenicians,  Carthage  and  Rome,  Ro- 
man Africa,  the  Arabs. — Religion  :  The  Natural 
History  of  Religion,  the  Israelites,  the  Jews,  the 
Christians,  Arabia,  Mecca,  Character  of  Moham- 
med, Description  of  Africa,  the  Mohammedans  in 
Central  Africa. — Liberty  :  Ancient  Europe,  Inva- 
sion of  the  Germans,  the  Castle,  the  Town,  the 
Church,  Venice,  Arab  Spain,  the  Portuguese, 
Discoverers,  the  Slave  Trade,  Abolition  in  Europe, 
Abolition  in  America,  Materials  of  Human  His- 
tory.— Intellect:  Animal  Period  of  the  Earth, 
Origin  of  Man  and  Early  History,  Summary  of 
Universal  History,  the  Future  of  the  Human 
Race,  Religion  of  fteason  aud  him 

Self-Contradictions  of  the  Bible.    Pap.,  I5c. 

One  hundred  and  forty-four  propositions  proved 
affirmatively  and  negatively  by  quotations  from 
the  Scriptures.  More  than  40,000  sold. 

TRUTH  SEEKER  CO.,  28  Lafayette  PI.,  New  York. 


Books  You  "Want  to  Read. 


The  Brain  and  the   Bible.     EDGAR  C. 

Preface  by  ROBERT  G.   INGEBSOLL.      363pp. 

12mo.     Cloth,  $1. 

This  is  the  only  work  of  its  kind  in  the  litera- 
ture of  Freethought.  Its  arguments  are  based 
upon  scientific  phrenology,  and  appeal  directly  to 
the  reader's  sense  of  logic  and  love  of  justice.  It 
is  eloquent  as  well  as  convincing.  Contents  :  The 
Pilot  of  the  Passions,  The  Fall  of  Man,  Change 
of  Heart,  The  Plan  of  Salvation,  Is  Nature  Self- 
Existent  ?  The  Design  Argument,  Joseph  Cook's 
Scientific  Theism,  The  Correlation  Argument, 
The  Logic  of  Jesuitism,  Popular  Objections  to 
Infidelity,  Our  Substitute  for  Christianity.  In 
the  Preface,  Colonel  Ingersoll  says  :  "  This  book, 
written  by  a  brave  and  honest  man,  is  filled  with 
brave  and  honest  thoughts.  The  arguments  it 
presents  cannot  be  answered  by  all  the  theolo- 
gians in  the  world." 

Sabbath-breaking.    JOHN  E.  REMSBUKG.    25c. 

Origin  of  the  Sabbatic  Idea — The  Jewish  Sab- 
bath— The  Christian  Scriptures  and  the  Sabbath 
— Examinations  of  Sunday  Arguments — Origin  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath — Testimony  of  the  Chris- 
tian Fathers — The  Sabbath  During  the  Middle 
Ages — The  Puritan  Sabbath — Testimony  of  Chris- 
tian Reformers,  Scholars,  and  Divines — Abroga- 
tion of  Sunday  Laws. 

Paine's  Vindication.  R.  G.  INGERSOLL.  15  cents. 
A  Reply  to  the  New  York  Observer's  attack 
upon  the  Author-Hero  of  the  Revolution.  To- 
gether with  W.  H.  Burr's  examination  of  the 
Bishop  Fenwick  account  of  a  scene  at  the  death- 
bed of  Paine.  Every  Freethinker  should  have 
this  pamphlet  to  refute  calumnies  of  Paine. 

'Address  THE  TRUTH  SEEKER,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


Books  You  Will  Want  to  Read. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  WAS  HE  A  CHRISTIAN  I 

By  J.  E.  Remsburg.  One  of  the  most  noted  controversies  of  the 
century  has  been  waged  over  the  question  of  Abraham  Lincoln's 
religious  belief.  Soon  after  the  remains  of  America's  most  illustri- 
ous son  were  laid  to  rest  at  Springfield,  one  of  his  biographers,  Dr. 
Holland,  put  forward  the  claim  that  he  was  a  Christian.  The  claim 
was  promptly  denied  by  the  dead  stateman's  friends,  but  only  to  be 
renewed  again,  and  again  denied.  And  thus  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  the  question  of  Lincoln's  belief  has  been  tossed  like  a  bat- 
tledore from  side  to  side.  For  fifteen  years  Mr.  Remsburg  has  been 
collecting  material  for  his  work.  He  presents  an  array  of  testimony 
that  is  irresistible  and  overwhelming,  and  which  must  put  this 
question  at  rest  forever.  In  addition  to  the  testimony  of  twenty 
witnesses  who  claim  that  Lincoln  was  a  Christian,  and  which  is  re- 
viewed and  refuted,  he  adduces  the  testimony  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred witnesses  in  proof  of  the  claim  that  Lincoln  was  not  a  Chris- 
tian. These  witnesses  include  his  wife  and  other  relatives;  his 
three  law  partners ;  his  private  secretaries ;  members  of  his  cabinet ; 
his  principal  biographers,  and  scores  of  his  most  intimate  friends. 
Noted  witnesses:  Hon.  W.  H.  Herndon,  Col.  Ward  H.  Lamon,  Hon. 
John  T.  Stuart,  Col.  Jas.  H.  Matheny,  Col.  John  G.  Nicolay,  Judge 
David  Davis,  Col.  Jesse  W.  Fell,  Hon.  Leonard  Swett,  Dr.  William 
Jayne,  Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Joshua  F.  Speed,  Hon.  Jarnes  K. 
Dubois,  Hon.  Joseph  Gillespie,  Dr.  C.  H.  Ray,  Col.  F.  S.  RuMier- 
ford,  Judge  Robert  Leachman,  Col.  R.  G.  Ingersoll,  Leonard  W. 
Volk,  Joseph  Jefferson,  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  Hon.  F.  M.  Haines, 
Hon.  James  Tuttle,  Hon.  M.  B.  Field,  Hon.  Geo.  W.  Julian,  Hon. 
John  B.  Alley,  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  Gen.  M.  M.  Trumbull,  Rev. 
David  Swing,  Rev.  Robert  Collyer,  Judge  Jesse  W.  Weik,  Hon.  J. 
P.  Usher,  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Boutwell,  Hon.  Wm.  D.  Kelley,  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  Wm.  H.  Seward,  Hon.  A.  J.  Grover,  Hon.  W.  H.  T. 
Wakefleld,  Gen.  D.  W.  Wilder,  Judge  Aaron  Goodrich,  Rev. 
Edward  Eggleston,  Donn  Piatt,  H.  K.  Magie,  Mrs.  Sarah  Lin- 
coln, and  Mrs.  Mary  Lincoln.  The  foregoing  arid  sixty  other  re- 
putable witnesses  testify  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  Freethinker. 
350  pp.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1  ;  paper,  50  cents. 

CANDLE  FROM  UNDER  THE  BUSHEL  (THE). 

By  Wm.  Hart.  Thirteen  Hundred  and  Six  Questions  to  the  Clergy 
and  for  the  Consideration  of  Others.  Mr.  Hart,  the  author,  while 
a  sincere  church-member,  obeyed  the  injunction  to  search  the  scrip- 
tures, which  led  to  the  propounding  of  these  queries,  which  no 
clergyman  can  answer  rationally  and  remain  a  Christian.  200  pp. 
12  mo.  Paper,  4=0  cents. 

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UCSB  LIBRARY 
X-&66&9 

NEW    BOOKS    BY    INGERSOLIi. 

ABOUT    THE    HOLY    BIBLE. 

FROM  GENESIS  TO  JESUS. 

"  In  the  nature  of  things  there  can  be  no  evidence  to  estab- 
lish the  claim  of  inspiration." — Ingersoll. 

A  large,  handsome  pamphlet,  heavy  paper.    Price,  25  cents. 

•IS    SUICIDE  ^   SIN? 

"SOMETHING  BRAND  NEW!" 

Ingersoll's  startling,  brilliant  and  thrillingly  eloquent 
letters,  which  created  such  a  sensation  when  published  in  the 
New  York  World,  together  with  the  replies  of  famous  clergy- 
men and  writers,  a  verdict  from  a  jury  of  eminent  men  of  New 
York,  Curious  facts  about  Suicides,  celebrated  essays  and 
opinions  of  noted  men,  and  an  astonishing  and  original  chap- 
ter, Great  Suicides  Of  History!  Price,  heavy  paper, 
with  late  portrait  of  Colonel  Ingersoll,  25  cents. 

The  American  Newsman  says:  "This is  something  brand 
new — curious,  entertaining,  and  startling  The  letters  are 
among  the  finest  products  of  Colonel  Ingersoll's  genius  •  •  • 
Bound  to  have  a  wide  sale. 

THE  GREAT    INGERSOLL    CONTROVERSY 

CONTAINING  THE 

FAMOUS  CHRISTMAS   SERMON  BY  INGERSOLL, 

The  indignant  protests    thereby  evoked  from  ministers  ol 

various  denominations,  and  Colonel  Ingersoll's 

replies  to  the  same. 

A  work  of  tremendous  interest  to  every  thinking  man  and 

woman. 

Reprinted  in  full  from  the  Correspondence  on  the  Subject  by 

Special  Permission  of  the  -Evening  lelearam. 

Price,  paper,  25  cents. 

ON   LINCOLN.     A   Lecture.      With  the  best  extant 
likeness  of  the  Martyr  President.     Price,  25  cents. 

ON  SHAKSPERE.     Uniform  \vith  "Lincoln."    Price, 
25  cents. 

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A     000  609  242 


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The  Truth  Seeker  stands  for  justice,  for  liberty,  for  equality  of  all 
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When  one  man  does  as  he  likes  on  one  day  of  the  week  and  forces  another 
to  do  as  he  does  also,  then  equality  ceases,  and  we  have  master  and  slave. 
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The  sixteen  large  pages  of  The  Truth  Seeker  are  filled  each  week 
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The  '1  ruth  Seeker  is  a  paper  for  the  Family,  for  the  Philosopher,  for 
the  Thinker.  It  is  iconoclastic  to  Error,  but  a  Builder  for  the  Truth.  And 
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